Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Increases Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 270.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 200,012 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 146,067 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 2.8% of Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI's portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI's holdings in Accenture were worth $70,186,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management acquired a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Guggenheim began coverage on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $425.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Up 0.3 %

ACN stock traded up $0.88 during trading on Friday, reaching $316.88. 3,381,612 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,947,733. The firm's 50 day moving average is $355.21 and its 200 day moving average is $342.31. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $212.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,937,824.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,500 shares of company stock valued at $12,276,123. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

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.