26,122 Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Purchased by Ashburton Jersey Ltd

Ashburton Jersey Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 26,122 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,189,000. Accenture comprises approximately 4.1% of Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Sepio Capital LP boosted its stake in Accenture by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Sepio Capital LP now owns 1,495 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $526,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Darden Wealth Group Inc raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Darden Wealth Group Inc now owns 2,228 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $784,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Mirabaud Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. Mirabaud Asset Management Ltd now owns 7,595 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,677,000 after buying an additional 2,183 shares during the period. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,420,000. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 6,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,134,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,431.38. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total transaction of $885,136.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,232,419.68. The trade was a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $285.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.91, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $349.68 and a 200-day moving average of $354.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 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 analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.77 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.23.

About Accenture

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.