Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Makes New $72.93 Million Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 207,299 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $72,926,000. Accenture accounts for approximately 0.9% of Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded down $1.02 on Friday, hitting $316.71. 4,012,185 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,988,275. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $302.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $339.04. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.01 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $198.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $382.14.

Accenture Company 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.