90,750 Shares in Accenture PLC $ACN Bought by Crake Asset Management LLP

Key Points

• Crake Asset Management LLP acquired 90,750 shares of Accenture PLC, valued at approximately $28.3 million, making it the 12th largest position in their investment portfolio.
• Analysts have varying opinions on Accenture, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $353.76.
• Accenture reported strong quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $3.49, exceeding estimates, and set its FY 2025 guidance between $12.770-$12.890 EPS.

Crake Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 90,750 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $28,318,000. Accenture makes up approximately 2.3% of Crake Asset Management LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $19,912,594,000 after buying an additional 3,419,577 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 63.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,953,621 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,793,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,490,569 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,766,369 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,111,378,000 after purchasing an additional 228,939 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,036,845 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,123,702,000 after purchasing an additional 545,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 3.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,129,053 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,600,470,000 after purchasing an additional 164,573 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 value of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded up $0.84 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $255.79. 4,707,085 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,553,398. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $236.67 and a one year high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $268.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $296.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ACN. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays cut their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.