Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 97.7% during the first quarter, owning 26,713 shares valued at $8.65 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Accenture reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $3.49, surpassing estimates and achieving a revenue of $17.73 billion, marking a year-over-year increase of 7.7%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, equating to an annualized dividend of $5.92 and a yield of 2.14%, set to be paid on August 15th.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 97.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,713 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 13,203 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 6,335.5% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,964 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Accenture by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 391,615 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $137,766,000 after purchasing an additional 64,282 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Accenture by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $70,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $12.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $254.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,672,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,384,865. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.53 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $254.89 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $299.07 and a 200 day moving average of $320.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ACN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. UBS Group reiterated 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. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on shares of Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. One equities research 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.