Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Buys 19,863 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• The Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 13.0%, acquiring an additional 19,863 shares, bringing its total holdings to 172,821 shares.
• Accenture recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with an annualized yield of 2.4% and a payout ratio of 47.13%.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its target price for Accenture to $353.00, maintaining an "overweight" rating, while the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 13.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 172,821 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 19,863 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 0.6% of Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Accenture were worth $53,927,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $19,912,594,000 after buying an additional 3,419,577 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Accenture by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,994,922,000 after buying an additional 181,449 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 732,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,766,369 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,111,378,000 after buying an additional 228,939 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $245.61 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $153.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.29. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $286.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $313.39. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $236.67 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors 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 payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. HSBC started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ACN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.