Raiffeisen Bank International AG Lowers Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Raiffeisen Bank International AG reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 0.8%, holding 195,581 shares valued at approximately $59.52 million, making it the bank's 27th largest investment.
• Accenture reported $3.49 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with a quarter revenue of $17.73 billion, a 7.7% increase year-over-year.
• The firm declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with a payout ratio of 47.13%, highlighting a 2.3% dividend yield for shareholders.

Raiffeisen Bank International AG lessened its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 195,581 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,603 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 0.9% of Raiffeisen Bank International AG's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Raiffeisen Bank International AG's holdings in Accenture were worth $59,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. HSBC started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the completion of 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 2.9%

NYSE:ACN traded down $7.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $240.46. The company had a trading volume of 2,308,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,469,538. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $294.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $317.47. The firm has a market cap of $150.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $240.49 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

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.