Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Acquires 3,261 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 34.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,757 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,261 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,938,156,000 after acquiring an additional 118,460 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,984,930 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Accenture by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,869,199,000 after purchasing an additional 546,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 9.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 790,580 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 3.0%

NYSE:ACN opened at $168.94 on Friday. 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 PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $322.86. The company has a market cap of $112.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $190.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $231.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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.