State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $81.26 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 230,985 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 513 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Accenture were worth $81,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 378.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,941,219,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,039 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2,666.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $251,607,000 after purchasing an additional 689,366 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 37,788.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $180,401,000 after acquiring an additional 509,011 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $387.99 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $365.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $354.28. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $242.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.22.

Accenture Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.