Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by E Fund Management Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 7.3%, acquiring an additional 1,321 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 19,499 shares valued at approximately $6,084,000.
• Accenture recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share that will be paid on August 15, 2023, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.5%.
• Accenture's stock has seen a 12-month high of $398.35 and is currently rated as a "Moderate Buy" by analysts, with an average target price of $360.21.

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,499 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,321 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,084,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,419,577 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position 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 valued at $1,067,651,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position 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 in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position 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 worth $450,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,395,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position 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 worth $2,667,393,000 after acquiring an additional 732,769 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 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 value of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $247.04. The stock had a trading volume of 4,223,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,754,784. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $236.67 and a one 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 1.46. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $285.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $312.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during 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 firm's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Accenture's dividend 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.