Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt Boosts Stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt grew its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 122.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 372,000 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 205,000 shares during the quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt owned 0.06% of Accenture worth $116,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $365.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% 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 valued at $1,646,780 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN traded up $1.28 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $283.73. 769,271 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,902,028. The business's 50-day moving average price is $306.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $324.37. The company has a market cap of $177.71 billion, a PE ratio of 22.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $273.19 and a 12-month 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.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 2.09%. Accenture's payout ratio 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.

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