Flossbach Von Storch AG Acquires 8,472 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Flossbach Von Storch AG lifted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 388,606 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,472 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 0.6% of Flossbach Von Storch AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Flossbach Von Storch AG’s holdings in Accenture were worth $136,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,945,673,000 after acquiring an additional 184,541 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Accenture by 2.7% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,453,884 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,560,765,000 after purchasing an additional 704,657 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,642,841 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,440,976,000 after buying an additional 2,163,582 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after buying an additional 565,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after acquiring an additional 720,647 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total transaction of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total transaction of $1,422,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,518,796. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total transaction of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,750 shares of company stock valued at $14,543,436. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock traded up $0.79 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $314.73. 2,760,008 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,368,561. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $357.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.95. The company has a market cap of $211.10 billion, a PE ratio of 28.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

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.