Capital International Investors Purchases 654,807 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Capital International Investors raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 196.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 654,807 shares during the period. Capital International Investors owned about 0.15% of Accenture worth $342,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of ACN traded down $1.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $328.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,438,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,947,021. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $303.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $331.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. UBS Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $351.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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.