Brucke Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Brucke Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,633 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $629,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,324,029,000 after buying an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $382.14.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $1.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $316.71. The stock had a trading volume of 4,012,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,269,440. The company's 50-day moving average price is $302.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $339.04. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.01 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $198.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 48.89%.

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.