Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Buys 4,945 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 63.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,766 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,945 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Accenture were worth $3,440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Running Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 14.3% during the third quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 57,541 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $14,190,000 after purchasing an additional 7,190 shares during the period. Weitz Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 28.8% during the third quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 160,550 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $39,592,000 after purchasing an additional 35,900 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Accenture by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 282,340 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $75,752,000 after purchasing an additional 61,314 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in Accenture by 180.4% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 404,680 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $99,794,000 after purchasing an additional 260,357 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 197.2% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $37,960,000 after buying an additional 93,880 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, HSBC cut their price target on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $179.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $119.35 billion, a PE ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $321.77. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $228.79.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

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.