Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Grows Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 16.3%, acquiring an additional 11,278 shares, bringing its total holdings to 80,411 shares valued at approximately $25.09 million.
• Accenture reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $3.49, surpassing estimates, with revenue of $17.73 billion, which is a 7.7% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, leading to an annualized dividend yield of 2.4%, with a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 16.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,411 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,278 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $25,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lipe & Dalton lifted its position in Accenture by 2,087.4% during the 1st quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 4,801 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Alteri Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $321,000. United Bank acquired a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $758,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $0.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $247.04. 4,223,359 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,755,595. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $236.67 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 2.25 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. The business has a 50 day moving average of $283.92 and a 200-day moving average of $310.68.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, 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 owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. HSBC started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started 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. Argus set a $370.00 price target on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.