Rossmore Private Capital Purchases 2,995 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Rossmore Private Capital boosted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 18.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,525 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,995 shares during the quarter. Rossmore Private Capital’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after purchasing an additional 854,361 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Accenture by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,938,156,000 after purchasing an additional 118,460 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Accenture by 41.1% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,223,839,000 after purchasing an additional 4,984,930 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Accenture by 5.4% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 546,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 9.0% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 9,615,366 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,371,149,000 after purchasing an additional 790,580 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on ACN shares. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 16th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $168.94 on Monday. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $155.82 and a fifty-two week high of $322.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.84, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $190.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $231.18.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Accenture Company Profile

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.