Ninety One North America Inc. Boosts Stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Ninety One North America Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 41.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 113,514 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 33,534 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 2.4% of Ninety One North America Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Ninety One North America Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $35,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on ACN. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $370.71.

Accenture Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $2.73 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $303.27. 2,889,749 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,901,898. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $189.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $273.19 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $309.69 and a 200 day moving average of $328.80.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. 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 is currently 47.13%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.