Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Castellan Group

Key Points

• Castellan Group increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 115.6%, acquiring 7,578 additional shares, bringing their total to 14,135 shares valued at approximately $4.4 million.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.2%, with shareholders set to receive the payment on August 15.
• Accenture's financial performance showed growth, with reported earnings per share of $3.49 for the latest quarter, exceeding analyst expectations by $0.17 and marking a 7.7% year-over-year increase in revenue.

Castellan Group boosted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 115.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,135 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,578 shares during the quarter. Castellan Group's holdings in Accenture were worth $4,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 30,256.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,067,651,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,248 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2,782.1% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,445,281 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $450,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395,135 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,667,393,000 after purchasing an additional 732,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $225,217,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $11.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $255.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,041,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,530,415. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $297.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $319.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $254.20 and a 1-year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ACN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. HSBC started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 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 $141,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.