Public Sector Pension Investment Board Raises Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 6.2% in the first quarter, owning 186,260 shares worth approximately $58.12 million.
• Accenture reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $3.49, surpassing analysts' expectations of $3.32, with revenue of $17.73 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 2.5%.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 186,260 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,848 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings in Accenture were worth $58,121,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $0.39 on Thursday, hitting $246.07. The company had a trading volume of 4,927,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,544,575. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $236.67 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $154.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.29. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $286.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $313.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 in the last 90 days. 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.