LPL Financial LLC Grows Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 627,471 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,528 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $168,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,192,907,000 after buying an additional 1,122,855 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 117,056 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,406,000 after buying an additional 22,605 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 42.7% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 3,203 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $859,000 after buying an additional 959 shares in the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 7,922 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,125,000 after buying an additional 1,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 163.1% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 371,487 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $99,670,000 after buying an additional 230,291 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $170.76 on Thursday. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $155.82 and a 12-month high of $321.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $182.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $222.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 53.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Accenture from $282.00 to $258.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. HSBC decreased their price target on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price target on Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $260.81.

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.