9,738 Shares in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Bought by True North Advisors LLC

Key Points

• True North Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture PLC, purchasing 9,738 shares valued at approximately $3,039,000.
• Accenture's recent quarterly earnings beat expectations, reporting $3.49 EPS against a consensus of $3.32, with a revenue increase of 7.7% year-over-year.
• The company announced a $1.48 quarterly dividend to be paid on August 15th, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 2.5%.

True North Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,738 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,039,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $19,912,594,000 after buying an additional 3,419,577 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 30,256.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,067,651,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,248 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 2,782.1% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,445,281 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $450,985,000 after buying an additional 1,395,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Accenture by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,667,393,000 after buying an additional 732,769 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $0.93 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $237.68. 4,832,289 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,523,184. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $236.67 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $289.64 and a 200-day moving average of $314.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business 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 $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Barclays lowered their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

About Accenture

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.