Great Lakes Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 15,448 Accenture PLC $ACN

Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 15,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,922,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 147.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 215 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. McMillan Office Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Accenture from $210.00 to $185.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 15th. Argus dropped their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 price target on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.96.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total value of $1,710,964.04. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. This trade represents a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 2.0%

ACN stock opened at $185.04 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $118.15 and a one year high of $291.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $151.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $180.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.78, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture 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.