Invesco Ltd. Acquires 537,223 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 23.5% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 537,223 shares, bringing its total holdings to approximately $880.96 million.
• CEO Mauro Macchi and COO John F. Walsh recently sold shares of Accenture, with Macchi's sale indicating a 17.97% decrease in his ownership and Walsh's sale reflecting a 13.60% reduction.
• Accenture reported $3.49 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations and marking a 7.7% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 23.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,823,228 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 537,223 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.45% of Accenture worth $880,960,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $239.07 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $238.03 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $291.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $315.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 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 (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $360.21.

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.

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