Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Purchased by Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Key Points

• Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its Accenture stake by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 190,432 shares valued at about $51.1 million.
• Accenture’s insider activity included CEO Atsushi Egawa selling 4,872 shares in a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 transaction, reducing his ownership by 27.57%.
• Analysts remain generally positive on ACN, with 17 Buy ratings and 10 Hold ratings; the consensus price target is $274.50 despite some recent target cuts. The stock opened at $178.33 and the company also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.63 per share, or $6.52 annualized.

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 190,432 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,500 shares during the quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Accenture were worth $51,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Running Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 57,541 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,190,000 after acquiring an additional 7,190 shares during the last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 160,550 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $39,592,000 after purchasing an additional 35,900 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in Accenture by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 282,340 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $75,752,000 after purchasing an additional 61,314 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Accenture by 180.4% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 404,680 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $99,794,000 after purchasing an additional 260,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 197.2% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $37,960,000 after purchasing an additional 93,880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 6th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.50.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $178.33 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average is $185.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $226.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $321.77.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

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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