Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd Takes Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd acquired 90,000 shares of Accenture PLC, valued at approximately $28 million, as part of their investment strategy in the company's stock during the first quarter.
• Accenture reported $3.49 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, and had a revenue of $17.73 billion, reflecting a 7.7% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.3%, with a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd purchased a new position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 90,000 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $28,084,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Accenture by 63.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,953,621 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,793,889,000 after buying an additional 3,490,569 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 5.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $19,912,594,000 after buying an additional 3,419,577 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 30,256.8% during the first 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. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 2,782.1% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,445,281 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $450,985,000 after buying an additional 1,395,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $225,217,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 4.4%

NYSE ACN traded down $11.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $240.85. 2,745,626 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,547,117. The company has a 50 day moving average of $266.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $295.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $236.67 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $150.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.30.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Rothschild Redb downgraded Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Barclays reduced their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $348.12.

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.