Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 10.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 869,141 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 84,608 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Accenture worth $271,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $2.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $304.58. 1,616,133 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,901,159. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. 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 capitalization of $190.76 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.29. The company's 50 day moving average price is $309.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $329.56.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned 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 an average price target of $370.71.

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.