Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $450.99 Million Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 2,782.1% during the first quarter, now owning approximately 1.45 million shares valued at around $450.99 million.
• Accenture reported $3.49 EPS in its latest earnings quarter, surpassing estimates and showing a 7.7% revenue growth compared to last year.
• The company plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $1.48 on August 15th, which represents a 2.10% yield with a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2,782.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,445,281 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,395,135 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 1.1% of Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Accenture worth $450,985,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hedeker Wealth LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Hedeker Wealth LLC now owns 13,377 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,174,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Accenture by 25.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 134,797 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $42,062,000 after buying an additional 27,331 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 60,162 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $18,773,000 after acquiring an additional 2,727 shares in the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 4,943 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 781 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $365.43.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $281.65 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $303.28 and a 200-day moving average of $322.87. The firm has a market cap of $176.40 billion, a PE ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 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. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $273.19 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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