Optas LLC Acquires 107 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Optas LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,472 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Optas LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $518,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Czech National Bank grew its position in Accenture by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 127,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $45,104,000 after acquiring an additional 7,791 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 45.4% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,096 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,569,000 after acquiring an additional 3,151 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its position in Accenture by 45.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 10,607 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after purchasing an additional 3,302 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $397,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 34,605 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,232,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $385.62 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $241.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.35, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $359.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $350.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total transaction of $1,723,205.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 20,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,446,422.28. This trade represents a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 $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 13,255 shares of company stock valued at $4,756,101. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.22.

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.