Prudential PLC Purchases 1,784 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Prudential PLC raised its stake in Accenture PLC by 4.0%, owning 46,620 shares worth approximately $14.55 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture stock, representing a 17.97% decrease in his ownership, while another CEO, Julie Spellman Sweet, reduced her stake by 21.73%.
• Accenture recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48, with an annualized payout of $5.92 and a yield of 2.5%.

Prudential PLC raised its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 4.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 46,620 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,784 shares during the period. Prudential PLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $14,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Visionary Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Vivaldi Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,981 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,863,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Sentinus LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 1,103 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. One 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.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $247.04. The company had a trading volume of 4,223,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,548,958. 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 company has a market capitalization of $154.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $236.67 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $285.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $312.52.

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. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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. Insiders sold a total of 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company 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.