Deuterium Capital Management LLC Takes $309,000 Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Deuterium Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,002 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $309,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,850,765,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 2,444.1% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 5,922,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $75,320,000 after buying an additional 5,689,509 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 101,214.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,040,402 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,141,000 after buying an additional 4,036,414 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,642,841 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,440,976,000 after acquiring an additional 2,163,582 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,535,663 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,297,009,000 after acquiring an additional 2,060,646 shares during the last quarter. 70.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.48, for a total transaction of $1,567,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 20,265 shares in the company, valued at $6,048,697.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.68, for a total transaction of $2,832,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,442,864.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.48, for a total transaction of $1,567,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 20,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,048,697.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,334 shares of company stock valued at $10,939,027. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN traded down $1.82 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $329.08. The stock had a trading volume of 375,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,229,143. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $242.80 and a 1-year high of $332.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $309.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $308.63.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 28th. The information technology services provider reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.06. Accenture had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 29.74%. The firm had revenue of $15.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 28th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 12th were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 11th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on ACN shares. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, November 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $333.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $312.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 9th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Friday, September 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $337.26.

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.