Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Buys New Shares in Accenture PLC $ACN

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 243,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $30,247,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Accenture by 197.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 93,880 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its position in 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 worth $89,965,000 after purchasing an additional 36,037 shares in the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 10.4% during 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 buying an additional 7,018 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 1,307,722 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $350,862,000 after purchasing an additional 969,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its position in Accenture by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 105,386 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,275,000 after buying an additional 18,600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ACN. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Accenture from $275.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $180.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Guggenheim reduced 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. Finally, Evercore set a $180.00 target price on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $194.19.

Accenture Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $189.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market cap of $126.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $155.72 and a 200-day moving average of $178.32. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $118.15 and a one year high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.49 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 37.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.