Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 120,931 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,689 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $37,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 grew its stake in Accenture by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,750,021,000 after buying an additional 136,665 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Accenture by 22.8% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,994,922,000 after acquiring an additional 181,449 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $317.49 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $303.15 and a 200-day moving average of $337.25. The firm has a market cap of $198.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $382.14.

About Accenture

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.