Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $195.65 Million Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 18.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 557,561 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 86,779 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 1.0% of Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned 0.09% of Accenture worth $195,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,850,765,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 101,214.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,040,402 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,078,141,000 after purchasing an additional 4,036,414 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,642,841 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,440,976,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163,582 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,453,884 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $7,560,765,000 after purchasing an additional 704,657 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $9.79 during trading on Friday, reaching $315.40. The company had a trading volume of 4,207,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,180,421. The company has a market cap of $211.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. The firm's fifty day moving average is $360.55 and its 200-day moving average is $342.00. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $261.68 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. Accenture's quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Susquehanna reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total transaction of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock worth $11,146,998 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company 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.