Ieq Capital LLC Raises Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 36.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 205,820 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,269 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $55,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 96.4% during the 4th quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 position. 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. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Mizuho cut their price target on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Truist Financial downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Monday, June 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Accenture from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.89.

Accenture Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $169.95 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $181.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.83. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $155.82 and a twelve month high of $317.30. The company has a market capitalization of $113.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 1.59 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 (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

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.