Advisors Capital Management LLC Buys 126,241 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Advisors Capital Management LLC significantly increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 101.9%, acquiring an additional 126,241 shares, bringing its total holdings to 250,118 shares valued at approximately $78 million.
• Accenture recently reported earnings of $3.49 per share for the last quarter, exceeding forecasts, with revenues of $17.73 billion, reflecting a 7.7% year-over-year increase.
• The company's stock is currently trading at $243.01, with a market capitalization of $152.21 billion, and it distributes a quarterly dividend of $1.48, yielding about 2.4% annually.

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 101.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 250,118 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 126,241 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 1.2% of Advisors Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $78,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lipe & Dalton increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2,087.4% during the first quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 4,801 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.2% during the first quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 22,087 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,892,000 after acquiring an additional 1,287 shares in the last quarter. United Bank bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at $758,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at $35,934,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $243.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.29. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $265.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $295.32. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $236.67 and a 52-week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. Analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the firm'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 $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the firm'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 directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Accenture from $334.00 to $302.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $348.12.

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.

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