Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 74,187 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,018 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 1.7% of Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 854,361 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,583,462,000 after buying an additional 129,610 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Accenture by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,687,867,000 after buying an additional 343,420 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,922,212,000 after buying an additional 218,719 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,122,855 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Argus decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut Accenture from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. William Blair lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Berenberg Bank reduced their price objective on Accenture from $273.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $136.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.96.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total transaction of $1,710,964.04. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at $2,890,450.30. This represents a 37.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $179.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $120.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.09. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $291.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $151.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.49 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

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

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.