Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Bought by United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund

Key Points

• United Super Pty Ltd significantly increased its Accenture stake in the fourth quarter, boosting holdings by 1,849.8% to 155,981 shares valued at about $41.85 million.
• Accenture reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with earnings of $2.93 per share on revenue of $18.04 billion, both ahead of analyst estimates, and revenue rose 7.8% year over year.
• Analysts remain generally positive on the stock despite some price target cuts, with 17 Buy ratings, 10 Hold ratings, and an average target price of $274.50; Accenture also pays a quarterly dividend yielding 3.7%.

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund raised its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1,849.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 155,981 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 147,981 shares during the period. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund's holdings in Accenture were worth $41,850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 46.9% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the period. United Bank lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 49.8% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,088,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 23.0% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Up 1.1%

ACN opened at $178.33 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $155.82 and a fifty-two week high of $321.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $185.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $226.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.60, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.82 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.

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