iA Global Asset Management Inc. Buys New Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased 68,671 shares of Accenture PLC, valued at approximately $21.4 million, marking a significant new investment in the company.
• CEO Mauro Macchi and another executive, Julie Spellman Sweet, sold shares of Accenture, reducing their holdings by 17.97% and 21.73%, respectively, indicating potential insider confidence issues or personal liquidity needs.
• Accenture recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, which reflects a yield of 2.3% and a payout ratio of 47.13%.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 68,671 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $21,428,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,531 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,102,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.7% in the first quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC now owns 1,630 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $509,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 21.7% during the first quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 2,588 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $807,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Wills Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,314,000. Finally, W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 49.9% in the 1st quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 3,204 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 2.3%

ACN traded down $5.72 on Thursday, hitting $241.82. The company had a trading volume of 7,245,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,477,017. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $292.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $316.70. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $239.82 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Argus set a $370.00 price target on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

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.