Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Makes New Investment in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise has acquired a new position in Accenture PLC, purchasing 27,957 shares valued at approximately $8.72 million.
• Insider activity includes CEO Julie Spellman Sweet selling 2,251 shares, resulting in a 21.73% decrease in her ownership of the stock.
• Accenture is projected to post $12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year, with a recent quarterly EPS of $3.49, surpassing analysts' expectations.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 27,957 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,724,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 6,335.5% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,964 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 391,615 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $137,766,000 after acquiring an additional 64,282 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Guggenheim decreased their target price on 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. increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Accenture Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of ACN stock traded down $4.83 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $274.07. 4,270,498 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,295,311. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $272.39 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. 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 company has a market capitalization of $171.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.29. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $300.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $321.07.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. Research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

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.