UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Boosts Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,036,845 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 545,109 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned 0.96% of Accenture worth $2,123,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $381.76.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $319.16 on Tuesday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $302.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $340.97. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $199.90 billion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

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.

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