3,174 Shares in Accenture PLC $ACN Bought by Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC

Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,174 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $527,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Accenture by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 282,340 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $75,752,000 after buying an additional 61,314 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 197.2% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $37,960,000 after acquiring an additional 93,880 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Accenture by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 557,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $149,582,000 after acquiring an additional 149,357 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,726,831,000 after acquiring an additional 854,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 335,314 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $89,965,000 after purchasing an additional 36,037 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the company’s 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 sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. Dbs Bank downgraded Accenture from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Argus dropped their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. William Blair lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $201.00 target price on 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.96.

Accenture Stock Down 1.1%

ACN stock opened at $176.60 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $118.15 and a fifty-two week high of $291.09. The company has a market capitalization of $117.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $151.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $183.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The company had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

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.