2,919 Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Acquired by PGGM Investments

PGGM Investments purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,919 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,024,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 40.3% during the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.6 %

Accenture stock opened at $303.16 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $348.33 and its 200 day moving average is $342.34. The company has a market capitalization of $203.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. BNP Paribas raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Company 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.