LexAurum Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

LexAurum Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,362 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. LexAurum Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 378.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,941,219,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after acquiring an additional 837,677 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Accenture by 2,666.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $251,607,000 after acquiring an additional 689,366 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 37,788.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $180,401,000 after acquiring an additional 509,011 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $362.65 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. 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 $226.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $357.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $346.86.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,332 shares of company stock valued at $6,172,719. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.74.

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.