Fund 1 Investments LLC Takes Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Fund 1 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 500 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $176,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 6,016 shares of company stock valued at $1,694,866. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays reduced their price target on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.82.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $307.85 on Friday. 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 plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $304.36 and a 200-day moving average of $342.69. The company has a market capitalization of $192.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

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.