Magnetar Financial LLC Invests $2.32 Million in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,580 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,315,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 62.2% in 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. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related 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 directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 8,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. The trade was a 7.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 7.3 %

Shares of ACN opened at $300.86 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a market cap of $188.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $360.05 and a 200 day moving average of $357.39. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $429.00 to $396.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $384.45.

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.