Hoxton Planning & Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,513 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $472,000.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.2% during the fourth 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 during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $2,667,393,000 after buying an additional 732,769 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,036,845 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,123,702,000 after buying an additional 545,109 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,126,846 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,803,572,000 after buying an additional 254,869 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Insider Transactions at Accenture
In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
Accenture Stock Performance
NYSE ACN traded down $11.92 on Friday, hitting $255.18. 6,041,752 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,530,415. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $297.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $319.33. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $254.20 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $159.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.
Accenture Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 2.3%. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Accenture
Accenture Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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