Running Oak Capital LLC Has $9.65 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Running Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 27,503 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,566 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 1.9% of Running Oak Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Running Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after buying an additional 96,414 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,098,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 284.7% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,449,000 after acquiring an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased 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 worth $199,167,000 after acquiring an additional 565,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 target price (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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $1.68 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $300.34. The stock had a trading volume of 2,683,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,500,082. The company has a market capitalization of $201.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $345.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.03. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company 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 $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

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

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.