Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Raises Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in Accenture by 21.4% in Q4 to 105,386 shares (an additional 18,600 shares), valued at about $28.28 million.
• Hedge funds and institutions own roughly 75.14% of Accenture; Vanguard holds ~66.07 million shares while Capital International notably boosted its stake by 41.1% (adding ~4.98 million shares).
• Analysts carry a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating with a $274.50 price target despite recent target cuts, and insiders sold about 10,943 shares in the last three months (insider ownership ~0.02%).

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 21.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 105,386 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 18,600 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Accenture were worth $28,275,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $17,726,831,000 after buying an additional 854,361 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Accenture by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,938,156,000 after buying an additional 118,460 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Accenture by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,223,839,000 after buying an additional 4,984,930 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Accenture by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,869,199,000 after buying an additional 546,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in Accenture by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 9,615,366 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,371,149,000 after buying an additional 790,580 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HSBC reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Berenberg Bank started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $313.00 price target for the company. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total transaction of $1,461,130.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,963.65. This represents a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,943 shares of company stock valued at $2,327,545. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $179.96 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $173.65 and a 12 month high of $325.71. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $196.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $235.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

About Accenture

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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