Syon Capital LLC Grows Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Syon Capital LLC raised its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 60.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,059 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,648 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Accenture by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after acquiring an additional 720,647 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,374,492 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $729,230,000 after buying an additional 611,376 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Accenture by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,388,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $487,309,000 after buying an additional 578,610 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $199,167,000 after buying an additional 565,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,089,485,000 after buying an additional 565,505 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Guggenheim started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $0.99 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $308.01. The stock had a trading volume of 3,367,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,435,239. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.59 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $350.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $341.97.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture 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.