Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Invests $2 Million in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. bought a new position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,423 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,004,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Accenture by 30,256.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,067,651,000 after buying an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,325,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,667,393,000 after purchasing an additional 732,769 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Argus set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $365.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $4.49 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $286.94. 3,614,418 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,910,792. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $306.32 and a 200-day moving average of $324.37. The stock has a market cap of $179.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

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.