KBC Group NV Boosts Stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 224,113 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,159 shares during the period. KBC Group NV's holdings in Accenture were worth $69,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $321,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 47.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $861,000 after buying an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $317,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $4.43 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $303.32. 2,147,137 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,893,074. 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 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a market cap of $189.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.17, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $308.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $330.80.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Piper Sandler decreased 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. UBS Group reaffirmed 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. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $370.71.

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.