Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Fred Alger Management LLC

Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 604.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,039 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 20,626 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $8,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $22,314,000 after acquiring an additional 3,883 shares during the last quarter. Davidson Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $812,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its holdings in Accenture by 126.8% in the 4th 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. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 37.5% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 843 shares during the period. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 127.1% during the 4th quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $377.82.

Accenture Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $322.47. The stock had a trading volume of 2,775,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,985,365. 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 business's 50 day moving average is $303.84 and its 200-day moving average is $342.08. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $275.01 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a market cap of $201.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.05, a PEG 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.77 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.84%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. 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 firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,016 shares of company stock worth $1,694,866 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.