Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 764,460 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,733 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $205,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 854,361 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Accenture by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,938,156,000 after acquiring an additional 118,460 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Accenture by 41.1% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,223,839,000 after acquiring an additional 4,984,930 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,869,199,000 after purchasing an additional 546,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 9.0% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 9,615,366 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,371,149,000 after purchasing an additional 790,580 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. HSBC decreased their target price on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.50.

Accenture Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $179.10 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $119.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s 50 day moving average is $195.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $235.35. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $173.56 and a twelve month high of $325.71.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.82 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total transaction of $1,461,130.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,679,963.65. This represents a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture 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 in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company 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.