Renaissance Technologies LLC Invests $317,000 in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 900 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $317,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA raised its stake in Accenture by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $22,314,000 after buying an additional 3,883 shares during the last quarter. Davidson Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $812,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 126.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 22,391 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Accenture by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,094 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the period. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 127.1% in the fourth quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded down $1.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $307.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,844,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,981,295. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $305.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $343.13. The firm has a market cap of $192.82 billion, a PE ratio of 25.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company'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 sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,016 shares of company stock valued at $1,694,866 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays reduced their target price on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Guggenheim cut their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $377.82.

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.