Fayez Sarofim & Co Has $14.23 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its ownership in Accenture PLC by 4.7% in Q1, purchasing an additional 2,037 shares, bringing its total to 45,605 shares valued at approximately $14.23 million.
• Accenture recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with an annualized yield of 2.4%, to be paid on August 15th to shareholders of record on July 10th.
• Equities analysts provide a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Accenture, with price targets ranging from $240 to $360, indicating varied outlooks on the stock's performance.

Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,605 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,037 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co's holdings in Accenture were worth $14,231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 5.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,419,577 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake 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 stake in Accenture by 16.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 2,782.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Accenture by 10.7% during 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 during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN traded down $2.65 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $239.07. The company had a trading volume of 3,810,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,579,456. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $149.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $238.03 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $291.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $315.89.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.