Renaissance Technologies LLC Invests $317,000 in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 900 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $317,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $308.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $192.93 billion, a PE ratio of 25.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $307.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $344.13. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. Accenture’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given 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 yield of 1.92%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,041 shares of company stock valued at $5,254,956. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird raised 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. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.82.

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.