Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. lowered its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,754 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 888 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 2.2% of Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $13,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 30,256.8% in the first 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 buying an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $666,495,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted 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 worth $4,325,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Accenture Stock Down 0.3%
Shares of ACN traded down $0.82 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $295.26. The stock had a trading volume of 4,159,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,942,878. The company has a market cap of $184.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.51, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.33. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $307.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $332.11. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $273.19 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.48.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have issued reports on ACN. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $370.71.
View Our Latest Research Report on ACN
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
About Accenture
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Free Report)
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.
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