Legal & General Group Plc Purchases 106,680 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,058,617 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 106,680 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,357,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 96.4% in the 4th quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steph & Co. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 107.5% in the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 110 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture 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 transaction of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $179.36 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The business has a fifty day moving average of $187.42 and a 200 day moving average of $228.65. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $321.77.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.82 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.40%.

About Accenture

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.