National Pension Service Has $378.57 Million Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• National Pension Service increased its stake in Accenture by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, ending with 1.41 million shares valued at about $378.6 million.
• Accenture reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.93 versus estimates of $2.84 and revenue of $18.04 billion, up 7.8% year over year.
• The company pays a quarterly dividend of $1.63 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 3.7%, while analysts currently rate the stock Moderate Buy with a consensus target of $274.50.

National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,410,982 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 66,242 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.23% of Accenture worth $378,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 878 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. now owns 4,416 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 5,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,461,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,751 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,108,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $178.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $185.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $226.77. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $155.82 and a one year high of $321.77. The firm has a market cap of $118.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. HSBC decreased their target price on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.50.

Accenture Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.