Howland Capital Management LLC Purchases 1,252 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Howland Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 36.6%, bringing its total to 4,669 shares valued at approximately $1.46 million.
• Accenture's stock recently opened at $266.93, and analysts have given it an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $360.21.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.2%, with a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Howland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 36.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,669 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,252 shares during the quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $1,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 30,256.8% during the first 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 boosted its position in Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth 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. boosted its position in Accenture by 2,782.1% during the first 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. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Accenture by 10.7% during the fourth 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. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $225,217,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $3.19 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $258.56. The company had a trading volume of 3,469,737 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,403,015. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.59, a PEG ratio of 2.32 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. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $254.20 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The firm's fifty day moving average is $297.98 and its 200 day moving average is $319.10.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The business 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%. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays reduced their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company'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 $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Accenture

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.