Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Bought by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 170,258 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,937 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $45,680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 878 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.9% during the third quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. now owns 4,416 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 5,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,461,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the second quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,751 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $176.47 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $117.43 billion, a PE ratio of 14.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $188.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $155.82 and a 12 month high of $322.86.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.82 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was 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 directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.50.

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.