Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Takes $23.04 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 65,502 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $23,043,000. Accenture makes up approximately 0.6% of Generali Asset Management SPA SGR’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 378.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,941,219,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $666,495,000. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Accenture by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,324,029,000 after buying an additional 1,212,011 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 51,837.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $302,751,000 after buying an additional 858,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Accenture by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,790,069 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,353,909,000 after purchasing an additional 826,038 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Baird R W raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Accenture from $429.00 to $396.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upped their price target on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $388.04.

Accenture Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $326.25 on Tuesday. 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 plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $362.51 and its 200 day moving average is $358.14.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 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 company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,431.38. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.