Sycomore Asset Management Has $20.37 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sycomore Asset Management increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 93.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,242 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,596 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 2.6% of Sycomore Asset Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Sycomore Asset Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $20,367,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $386.04 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $362.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $352.18. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $398.35. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. Accenture’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total transaction of $885,136.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 28,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,232,419.68. This trade represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of 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 research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.