Royal Bank of Canada Increases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,126,846 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 254,869 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,803,572,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $69,505,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $85,000. Point72 Europe London LLP purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,047,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,430,000. Finally, Prana Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,116,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $323.17 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $202.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $302.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $341.53. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.01 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $381.76.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.