Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Key Points

• Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 11.4% during Q1, holding 339,179 shares valued at approximately $105.84 million.
• Accenture reported strong earnings with $3.49 EPS for the recent quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations by $0.17, and revenue of $17.73 billion, reflecting a 7.7% year-over-year growth.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with a yield of 2.4% and a payout ratio of 47.13%, payable on August 15th.

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 11.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 339,179 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 34,675 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 0.05% of Accenture worth $105,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sit Investment Associates Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 81,261 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $25,357,000 after buying an additional 2,329 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in Accenture by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 172,821 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $53,927,000 after buying an additional 19,863 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 19,499 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,321 shares during the last quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 35.5% during the 1st quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 653 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Triglav Skladi D.O.O. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth $15,649,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $360.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN traded up $0.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $247.04. The stock had a trading volume of 4,223,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,754,784. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $154.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29. The company's 50-day moving average price is $283.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $311.17. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $236.67 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 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 analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

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.