IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Has $8.26 Million Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 7.3%, making it the fund's 21st largest holding, valued at approximately $8.26 million.
• Accenture's latest quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $3.49, exceeding estimates, along with revenue of $17.73 billion, showcasing a year-over-year growth of 7.7%.
• Accenture declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share with an annualized yield of 2.3%, with the payout ratio standing at 47.13%.

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd grew its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,462 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,810 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 1.0% of IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd's holdings in Accenture were worth $8,257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $947,000. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Accenture by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 631 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 6,065 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,134,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darden Wealth Group Inc boosted its position in Accenture by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Darden Wealth Group Inc now owns 2,228 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $784,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Argus set a $370.00 target price on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $360.21.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's 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 in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE ACN traded up $0.54 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $247.61. 8,063,977 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,232,671. The company has a 50 day moving average of $295.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $317.95. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $244.00 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $155.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. 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.