Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Grows Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 74,054 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,640 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Accenture were worth $19,869,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 878 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.9% in the third quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. now owns 4,416 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Peak Asset Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 5,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,461,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 1.2% during the second quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,751 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,108,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

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 shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $170.76 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $155.82 and a twelve month high of $321.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $222.79.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm 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%.Accenture’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.82 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Accenture from $275.00 to $248.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 4th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Accenture from $282.00 to $258.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price target on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.81.

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.