Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 5.7%, now owning approximately 10.19% of the company, which is valued at about $19.9 billion.
• Analysts have varying outlooks for Accenture, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of around $360.21, indicating a mix of buy and hold ratings.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, resulting in a 2.4% dividend yield, with a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 5.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,419,577 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.19% of Accenture worth $19,912,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,766,369 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,111,378,000 after purchasing an additional 228,939 shares in the last quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,095 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA grew its position in Accenture by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 6,637 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,071,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,238 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on shares of Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Guggenheim reduced 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. HSBC began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the firm'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 $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN traded down $2.65 on Friday, hitting $239.07. The stock had a trading volume of 3,810,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,579,456. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $238.03 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $149.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $292.71 and a 200-day moving average of $316.70.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Accenture 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.