Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Acquired by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,141,635 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,389 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $306,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Weitz Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 28.8% in the third quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 160,550 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $39,592,000 after purchasing an additional 35,900 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in Accenture by 27.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 61,314 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in Accenture by 180.4% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 404,680 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $99,794,000 after acquiring an additional 260,357 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 197.2% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Accenture by 36.6% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $260.00 to $210.00 in a report on Monday, June 1st. Seventeen investment 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $169.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $181.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $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. The company has a market cap of $113.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $317.30.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.82 EPS. On average, analysts predict 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 $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

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.