Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Buys New Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 243,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $30,247,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,583,462,000 after buying an additional 129,610 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Accenture by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,687,867,000 after purchasing an additional 343,420 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,922,212,000 after purchasing an additional 218,719 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,173,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,192,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,146,995,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Accenture from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. William Blair lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Robert W. Baird set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $201.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 8th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $194.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total value of $1,710,964.04. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,890,450.30. This represents a 37.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 Stock Up 1.2%

ACN opened at $189.58 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $118.15 and a 1-year high of $291.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $155.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $126.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its board 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 purchase up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.