Aquatic Capital Management LLC Acquires 30,911 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Aquatic Capital Management LLC raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 71.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 74,231 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 30,911 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 0.7% of Aquatic Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Aquatic Capital Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $26,114,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $22,314,000 after acquiring an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. Davidson Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $812,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 126.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 40,051 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $14,090,000 after acquiring an additional 22,391 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,094 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 127.1% in the fourth quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $3.02 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $302.17. The stock had a trading volume of 1,365,614 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,974,936. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $311.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $345.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $189.26 billion, a PE ratio of 25.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. Accenture's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays reduced their target price on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $377.82.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,041 shares of company stock worth $5,254,956. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Company 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.