Plato Investment Management Ltd Invests $4.63 Million in Accenture PLC $ACN

Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 37,389 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,626,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,726,831,000 after purchasing an additional 854,361 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,583,462,000 after buying an additional 129,610 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,687,867,000 after acquiring an additional 343,420 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,922,212,000 after acquiring an additional 218,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,173,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,192,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122,855 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore set a $180.00 target price on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Argus cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $190.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Accenture from $200.00 to $194.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.96.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $176.60 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $151.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were issued a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total transaction of $1,710,964.04. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 17,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. The trade was a 37.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Company 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.