Soros Fund Management LLC Has $65.01 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Soros Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 143.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 184,795 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 108,943 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 1.0% of Soros Fund Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Soros Fund Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $65,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA increased its stake in Accenture by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $22,314,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares during the period. Davidson Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $812,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its position in Accenture by 126.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 40,051 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,090,000 after acquiring an additional 22,391 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 37.5% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 127.1% during the fourth quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $4.96 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $305.49. 1,810,006 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,978,365. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $309.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $345.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.77 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. 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 1.94%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Barclays decreased their price target on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Eight investment 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, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $377.82.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,041 shares of company stock worth $5,254,956. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.