Teacher Retirement System of Texas lessened its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 27.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 353,464 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 133,215 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 0.5% of Teacher Retirement System of Texas' investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned about 0.06% of Accenture worth $110,295,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,955 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 2,224 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $99,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 42,416 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,921,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crew Capital Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 3,952 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,390,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts have commented on ACN shares. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $370.71.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on ACN
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 shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,364 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
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 2,902,190. The company's 50 day moving average price is $309.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $330.04. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.76 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.29. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.
Accenture Profile
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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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