609,402 Shares in Accenture PLC $ACN Acquired by Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor

Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 609,402 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $75,834,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in 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 valued at $75,752,000 after buying an additional 61,314 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Accenture by 197.2% during the 4th 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. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Accenture by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 557,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $149,582,000 after buying an additional 149,357 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after acquiring an additional 854,361 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.0% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 19th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Accenture from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Argus cut their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $275.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total value of $1,710,964.04. Following the sale, the general counsel 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.2%

ACN stock opened at $176.60 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $151.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.88. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $118.15 and a 52 week high of $291.09. The company has a market cap of $117.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.49 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management 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.