AGF Management Ltd. Raises Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

AGF Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 202,472 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,977 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $63,179,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $239.07 on Monday. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $238.03 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $291.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $315.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Accenture to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $360.21.

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.