Ally Financial Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Ally Financial acquired 17,500 Accenture shares in the second quarter, valued at approximately $2.18 million. Institutional investors collectively own 75.14% of ACN.
• Accenture reported quarterly earnings of $3.80 per share, exceeding estimates by $0.10, while revenue rose 5.6% year over year to $18.72 billion. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $1.63 per share and approved a $2 billion share-repurchase plan.
• Wall Street’s consensus rating is “Hold,” with an average price target of $192.96. Analyst opinions remain mixed, while Accenture’s general counsel recently sold 10,498 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan.

Ally Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 17,500 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,178,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.9% during the third quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. now owns 4,416 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,089,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 5,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,461,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 1.2% in the second quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,751 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,108,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Intrua Financial LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 516 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $139,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $185.04 on Monday. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $118.15 and a 52 week high of $291.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $123.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $151.90 and a 200-day moving average of $179.75.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. TD Cowen lowered Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $258.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $185.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Accenture from $280.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $192.96.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total transaction of $1,710,964.04. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. This trade represents a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ACN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source