Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 23,422 Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Gibraltar Capital Management established a new stake in Accenture (NYSE:ACN) in Q4, buying 23,422 shares valued at about $6.28 million.
• Accenture beat quarterly expectations with $2.93 EPS vs. $2.84 est. and $18.04 billion in revenue (up 7.8% year‑over‑year), and the stock carries a consensus analyst rating of Moderate Buy with a $274.50 target.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.63 ($6.52 annualized) for a ~3.6% yield payable May 15 (ex‑dividend April 9); insiders sold about 10,943 shares over the past 90 days and institutions own roughly 75% of the stock.

Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 23,422 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,284,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $17,726,831,000 after buying an additional 854,361 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Accenture by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,938,156,000 after buying an additional 118,460 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in Accenture by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,223,839,000 after buying an additional 4,984,930 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Accenture by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,869,199,000 after buying an additional 546,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in Accenture by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 9,615,366 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,371,149,000 after buying an additional 790,580 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:ACN opened at $179.96 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $173.65 and a one year high of $325.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $196.46 and a 200-day moving average of $235.90. The company has a market cap of $119.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.74, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Accenture from $251.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $274.50.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total transaction of $1,461,130.11. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,679,963.65. The trade was a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 10,943 shares of company stock valued at $2,327,545 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.

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 reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.