National Pension Service Has $426.26 Million Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• The National Pension Service increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 6.0% during the first quarter, now holding 1,366,038 shares valued at approximately $426.3 million.
• CEO Julie Spellman Sweet and another executive sold shares of Accenture, resulting in a 21.73% and 17.97% decrease in their holdings, respectively.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, scheduled for payment on August 15th, reflecting an annual yield of 2.5%.

National Pension Service raised its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,366,038 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 77,433 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.22% of Accenture worth $426,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lipe & Dalton increased its position in shares of Accenture by 2,087.4% in the first quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 4,801 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Alteri Wealth LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $321,000. United Bank bought a new position in Accenture during the first quarter worth about $758,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ACN. HSBC began coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price target for the company. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $0.88 on Friday, hitting $247.04. 4,223,359 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,754,784. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $283.92 and a 200-day moving average of $311.61. The stock has a market cap of $154.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick 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.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share 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 issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

About Accenture

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.