Tredje AP fonden Buys 79,692 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Tredje AP fonden increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 40.4%, acquiring an additional 79,692 shares, bringing its total holdings to 277,097 shares valued at approximately $86.5 million.
• Accenture reported earnings of $3.49 per share for the quarter, exceeding expectations and showcasing a 7.7% year-over-year revenue growth with total revenue of $17.73 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, indicating a yield of 2.16% and maintaining a dividend payout ratio of 47.13%.

Tredje AP fonden raised its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 40.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 277,097 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 79,692 shares during the quarter. Tredje AP fonden's holdings in Accenture were worth $86,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,750,021,000 after purchasing an additional 136,665 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during the 4th 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. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,994,922,000 after purchasing an additional 181,449 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,667,393,000 after purchasing an additional 732,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,036,845 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,123,702,000 after acquiring an additional 545,109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $4.83 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $274.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,270,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,295,311. The company has a market cap of $171.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $300.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $320.74. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $272.39 and a 52-week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.16%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, 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 value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Company 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.