Flputnam Investment Management Co. Raises Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,293 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,671 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 0.8% of Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $42,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during 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 in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 64.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $885,136.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 28,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,232,419.68. This represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $348.28 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $367.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $357.56. The firm has a market cap of $217.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $388.96.

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.