Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Acquired by First National Bank of Omaha

First National Bank of Omaha lifted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 60.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 55,707 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,918 shares during the period. First National Bank of Omaha’s holdings in Accenture were worth $14,981,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 1.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 854,361 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Accenture by 0.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 118,460 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Accenture by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,687,867,000 after purchasing an additional 343,420 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,922,212,000 after purchasing an additional 218,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted 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 in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction 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 represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $169.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $113.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $155.82 and a twelve month high of $317.30. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $221.83. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target 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 lowered their price target on Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Accenture from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Accenture from $275.00 to $248.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $210.00 in a report on Monday, June 1st. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $259.89.

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.