PDS Planning Inc Boosts Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

PDS Planning Inc grew its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 10.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,011 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $21,246,236,000 after purchasing an additional 392,183 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,750,021,000 after acquiring an additional 136,665 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,994,922,000 after purchasing an additional 181,449 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $294.71 on Thursday. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $184.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $307.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $332.55.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ACN. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $370.75.

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.