Deutsche Bank AG Acquires 221,543 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,541,882 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 221,543 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned 0.57% of Accenture worth $1,245,999,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $21,246,236,000 after purchasing an additional 392,183 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,750,021,000 after buying an additional 136,665 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Accenture by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,994,922,000 after acquiring an additional 181,449 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 6,016 shares of company stock worth $1,694,866. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $1.03 on Friday, hitting $307.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,844,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,985,060. The stock has a market capitalization of $192.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. 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 plc has a 1 year low of $275.01 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $304.36 and a 200-day moving average of $342.50.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.77 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $377.82.

About Accenture

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.