Running Oak Capital LLC Grows Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Running Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,503 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,566 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 1.9% of Running Oak Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Running Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Accenture by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after acquiring an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,374,492 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $729,230,000 after buying an additional 611,376 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,388,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $487,309,000 after buying an additional 578,610 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $199,167,000 after buying an additional 565,882 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after buying an additional 565,505 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE ACN traded up $1.68 on Thursday, hitting $300.34. 2,683,864 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,500,082. The company has a market cap of $201.45 billion, a PE ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $345.84 and a 200-day moving average of $342.03.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Company 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.