Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd Boosts Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 25.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 157,719 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,264 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 1.1% of Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $55,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Susquehanna raised their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.04.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $350.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $219.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $357.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $344.97.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Accenture Company 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.