Madison Asset Management LLC Takes $4.51 Million Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 36,225 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,508,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $75,752,000 after purchasing an additional 61,314 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Accenture by 197.2% in 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. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 854,361 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 335,314 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $89,965,000 after acquiring an additional 36,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $9,232,000 after acquiring an additional 7,018 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total value of $1,710,964.04. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. This represents a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE:ACN opened at $181.58 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $151.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $180.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $118.15 and a 1-year high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Accenture from $253.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Mizuho cut their price objective on Accenture from $280.00 to $226.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Robert W. Baird set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $186.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.96.

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.