Northern Trust Corp Has $2.37 Billion Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 0.1% during Q1, owning approximately 1.21% of the company valued at over $2.36 billion.
• Accenture reported $3.49 earnings per share for its last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and showing a 7.7% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The firm also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.4% and a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 0.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,587,791 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,447 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.21% of Accenture worth $2,367,694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Argus set a $370.00 target price on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. HSBC started coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays cut their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $358.08.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business'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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business'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 value of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 1.9%

Accenture stock traded up $4.9040 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $258.8940. The stock had a trading volume of 3,102,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,885,374. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $277.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $307.16. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $236.67 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 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.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.