Sienna Gestion Purchases New Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Sienna Gestion purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACNFree Report) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 80,326 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,580,000. Accenture makes up 1.3% of Sienna Gestion’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA boosted its stake in Accenture by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA now owns 1,295 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. TritonPoint Partners LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. USS Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Accenture by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 106,098 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,475,000 after acquiring an additional 5,790 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 80,421 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $21,577,000 after acquiring an additional 14,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 225.0% during the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 51,763 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $13,888,000 after acquiring an additional 35,835 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $165.39 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $181.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.09. The company has a market cap of $110.06 billion, a PE ratio of 13.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.09. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $155.82 and a 52-week high of $317.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACNGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Trending Headlines about Accenture

Here are the key news stories impacting Accenture this week:

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.04.

Get Our Latest Research Report on ACN

Accenture Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Accenture (NYSE:ACN)

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