Exane Asset Management Takes Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Exane Asset Management acquired a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,325 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,312,000. Accenture accounts for approximately 0.9% of Exane Asset Management’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the second quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on ACN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. UBS Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.41.

Accenture Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $341.71 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $214.15 billion, a PE ratio of 31.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $324.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $323.84. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Accenture Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.