Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Bought by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 96.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 692,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 339,389 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 1.1% of Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $185,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 96.4% during the fourth quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $169.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $181.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $221.83. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $155.82 and a 52 week high of $317.30. The stock has a market cap of $113.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.82 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $248.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.89.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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.

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.