Aberdeen Group plc Grows Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc has increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 4.1%, now owning approximately 900,356 shares, which makes up 0.5% of their total portfolio.
• Accenture recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with a yield of 2.4%, set to be paid on August 15th.
• Analyst ratings for Accenture vary, with one firm downgrading the stock while others maintain "buy" ratings and price targets ranging from $325 to $395.

Aberdeen Group plc boosted its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 900,356 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 35,350 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up approximately 0.5% of Aberdeen Group plc's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.14% of Accenture worth $277,323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of ACN stock traded up $0.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $247.04. 4,223,359 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,755,595. The stock's fifty day moving average is $283.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $310.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $236.67 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $154.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 value of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

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.