Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Makes New $47.46 Million Investment in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired 152,087 shares of Accenture PLC, valued at approximately $47.46 million, marking a new stake during the first quarter.
• Accenture reported a quarterly earnings per share of $3.49, exceeding analysts' expectations, with year-over-year revenue growth of 7.7%.
• Accenture recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.3%.

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 152,087 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $47,457,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 0.3%

ACN stock traded up $0.84 during trading on Monday, reaching $255.79. The stock had a trading volume of 4,667,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,553,398. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $236.67 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $160.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $268.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $296.75.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 47.13%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on ACN shares. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $353.76.

About Accenture

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.