Is Accenture (ACN) A Smart Long-Term Buy?

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Global Growth Strategy” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. During the fourth quarter, the ClearBridge Global Growth Strategy outperformed its MSCI ACWI benchmark. The Strategy delivered gains across eight of the nine sectors in which it was invested (out of 11 total), with the information technology (IT) and industrials sectors the primary contributors. The communication services sector was the sole detractor. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

ClearBridge Investments Global Growth Strategy, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) and discussed its stance on the firm. Founded in 1989, Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is a Dublin, Ireland-based multinational professional services company with a $215.9 billion market capitalization, and is currently spearheaded by its CEO, Julie Sweet. Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) delivered a -17.83% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 22.38%. The stock closed at $340.64 per share on April 01, 2022.

Here is what ClearBridge Investments Global Growth Strategy has to say about Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“We were quite active during the quarter, leveraging volatility to add 10 new names to the portfolio while exiting seven others. Among our new purchases was Accenture. Ireland-based Accenture is the leading IT professional services company that offers the full life cycle of IT services including consulting, implementation and outsourcing. It is a key partner of organizations going through digital transformation and cloud adoption and we view the company as an agnostic way to gain exposure to the compressed digital transformation cycle that is occurring across all industries post COVID-19.”

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Our calculations show that Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) was in 50 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 56 funds in the previous quarter. Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) delivered a -17.83% return in the past 3 months.

In March 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in another article. You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.