Manchester Global Management UK Ltd Purchases 18,813 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Manchester Global Management UK Ltd increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 47.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 58,285 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,813 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 2.7% of Manchester Global Management UK Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Manchester Global Management UK Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $20,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 2,097 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $738,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co raised its stake in Accenture by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 43,568 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $15,327,000 after buying an additional 2,546 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,738 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,426,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 230,011 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $80,916,000 after acquiring an additional 17,220 shares during the period. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 51.9% during the 4th quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 107,622 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $37,860,000 after purchasing an additional 36,767 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE ACN opened at $279.48 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $324.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $349.02. The firm has a market cap of $175.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.45, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,291 shares of company stock valued at $7,880,886. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average 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.