Tredje AP fonden Has $54.19 Million Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Tredje AP fonden increased its Accenture stake by 37.7% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 201,966 shares valued at about $54.2 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted or initiated positions in Accenture, and institutions now own 75.14% of the company’s shares.
• Accenture reported solid quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue expectations, while analysts currently assign it a Moderate Buy consensus with a $274.50 price target despite recent target cuts.

Tredje AP fonden lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 37.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 201,966 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 55,266 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden's holdings in Accenture were worth $54,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Accenture by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,363 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $634,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in Accenture by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 233,645 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $62,687,000 after acquiring an additional 11,545 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group grew its position in Accenture by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 3,754 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Accenture by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 170,258 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $45,680,000 after acquiring an additional 6,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prossimo Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $211,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price objective on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.50.

Accenture Trading Up 4.9%

NYSE ACN opened at $177.16 on Tuesday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $189.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $230.64. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $155.82 and a 12 month high of $322.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.82 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture's payout ratio is 53.40%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.

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