Flossbach Von Storch SE Purchases 123,104 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Flossbach Von Storch SE increased its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 8.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,627,589 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 123,104 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 2.2% of Flossbach Von Storch SE's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Flossbach Von Storch SE owned 0.26% of Accenture worth $507,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Alteri Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $321,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 47.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $861,000 after buying an additional 789 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $317,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $370.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $9.36 during trading on Thursday, reaching $288.04. 5,194,527 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,916,348. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $273.19 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $309.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $327.92.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

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.