Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 113,848 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings in Accenture were worth $35,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $21,246,236,000 after buying an additional 392,183 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,750,021,000 after acquiring an additional 136,665 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,325,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,994,922,000 after purchasing an additional 181,449 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture
In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
Accenture Stock Down 0.2%
Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.62 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $302.00. 2,748,416 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,902,731. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $189.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $273.19 and a one year high of $398.35. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $308.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $330.60.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms recently issued reports on ACN. Barclays reduced their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Seven research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $370.71.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on ACN
Accenture Profile
(
Free Report)
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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