AGF Management Ltd. Acquires 13,977 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• AGF Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 7.4% during Q1, owning 202,472 shares valued at $63.18 million.
• Accenture reported $3.49 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst estimates by $0.17, with revenue of $17.73 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 2.5%, to be paid on August 15th.

AGF Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 202,472 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 13,977 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $63,179,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $246.07. 4,927,905 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,544,575. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $286.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $313.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.12 billion, a PE ratio of 19.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $236.67 and a 1-year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. HSBC began coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

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.