Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Buys New Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 640,203 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $225,217,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned approximately 0.10% of Accenture at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,193 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $772,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,044 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 558 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $196,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $382.14.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN traded down $1.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $316.71. The stock had a trading volume of 4,012,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,988,259. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $302.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $338.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. 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.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.