Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Increases Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,938 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $316.80 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.49 billion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $353.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.40.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,833 shares of company stock valued at $13,645,871. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.