Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Increased by LGT Group Foundation

LGT Group Foundation raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 103.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 549,344 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 278,695 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 2.5% of LGT Group Foundation’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. LGT Group Foundation owned approximately 0.09% of Accenture worth $166,676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,171 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $762,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,264 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,308 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 79.5% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,535 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 206.0% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 2,806 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:ACN traded up $0.89 on Monday, reaching $340.73. 182,877 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,766,296. The company has a market capitalization of $213.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.12, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $323.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $324.05.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.41.

Accenture Profile

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.