Sienna Gestion Acquires 3,018 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sienna Gestion increased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,224 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,018 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.7% of Sienna Gestion’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Sienna Gestion’s holdings in Accenture were worth $24,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Carret Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 3,645 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,282,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 691.1% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,250 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,993,000 after buying an additional 27,300 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 82.5% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 541,798 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $190,599,000 after acquiring an additional 244,967 shares during the period. Renasant Bank boosted its holdings in Accenture by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 1,207 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Aviso Financial Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 16,059 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,649,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $316.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business’s 50 day moving average is $363.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $358.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.55, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $388.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the firm’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 completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.