48,506 Shares in Accenture PLC $ACN Acquired by Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A.

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 48,506 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,014,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 878 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $236,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. increased its stake in Accenture by 0.9% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 0.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $1,108,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating 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 for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Down 0.6%

Accenture stock opened at $176.47 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $117.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $155.82 and a 1-year high of $322.86. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $188.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.