United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund Grows Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund lifted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 1,849.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 155,981 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 147,981 shares during the period. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund’s holdings in Accenture were worth $41,850,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Running Oak Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 57,541 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $14,190,000 after purchasing an additional 7,190 shares during the last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 160,550 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $39,592,000 after purchasing an additional 35,900 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted 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 purchasing an additional 61,314 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted 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 purchasing an additional 260,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 93,880 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $178.33 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $155.82 and a fifty-two week high of $321.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $185.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $226.77. The company has a market cap of $118.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.60, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.50.

Accenture 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.