Korea Investment CORP Acquires 109,550 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Korea Investment CORP lifted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 38.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 392,949 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 109,550 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Accenture were worth $105,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 878 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.9% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Peak Asset Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $1,461,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE:ACN opened at $169.95 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $155.82 and a one year high of $317.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $181.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $221.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.82 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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.