EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. Invests $1.40 Million in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. has acquired a new investment position in Accenture PLC, purchasing 4,490 shares valued at approximately $1,401,000 in the first quarter.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Accenture, with Evercore ISI initiating coverage with an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target, while JPMorgan Chase increased their target to $353.00.
• Accenture recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, which will be paid on August 15th, demonstrating a solid annual yield of 2.16% and a payout ratio of 47.13%.

EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. bought a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,490 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,401,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. May Hill Capital LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $273,000. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 21,049 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $7,406,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 343,463 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $120,827,000 after buying an additional 10,242 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 4.5%

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

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% 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, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 have sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. HSBC started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Accenture 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.