Arizona State Retirement System Has $60.09 Million Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 192,561 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,301 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Accenture were worth $60,087,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 30,256.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,067,651,000 after buying an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Accenture by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Accenture by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,667,393,000 after acquiring an additional 732,769 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $370.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $7.35 during trading on Friday, reaching $281.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,075,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,924,704. 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 business's 50-day moving average price is $309.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $327.36. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $176.00 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

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.