Short Interest in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Declines By 8.5%

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,400,000 shares, a drop of 8.5% from the December 15th total of 5,900,000 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,440,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $352.33 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $357.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $345.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,125 shares of company stock worth $6,184,820. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Accenture by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,155 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,115,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Apeiron RIA LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Apeiron RIA LLC now owns 1,109 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 2,271 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $799,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,143 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Planning Advisors LLC increased its position in Accenture by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Planning Advisors LLC now owns 11,187 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,935,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company 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.