XTX Topco Ltd Buys New Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 7,080 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,491,000.

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Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 5,194 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,827,000 after acquiring an additional 623 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 47.3% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $855,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 3,119 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in Accenture by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 28,085 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $9,881,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bragg Financial Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc now owns 52,192 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $18,361,000 after buying an additional 1,174 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.6 %

• Accenture’s Stock Earnings Reveal an AI-Powered Growth Strategy

ACN stock opened at $283.54 on Monday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.79, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $336.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $352.00. 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 (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $378.23.

Read Our Latest Research Report on Accenture

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.

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