Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Achmea Investment Management B.V.

Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 10.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 75,708 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,982 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $23,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $321,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 47.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $861,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $317,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $296.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $185.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $273.19 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $307.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $332.11.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on ACN. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Argus set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $370.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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