Rheos Capital Works Inc. Takes Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Rheos Capital Works Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 20,000 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,366,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,938,156,000 after purchasing an additional 118,460 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Accenture by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,223,839,000 after buying an additional 4,984,930 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Accenture by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,147,796 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,502,446,000 after buying an additional 1,148,970 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 9,615,366 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,371,149,000 after buying an additional 790,580 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,050,483 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,738,649,000 after buying an additional 295,762 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.88.

Accenture Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $198.93 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $242.91. 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 1 year low of $187.00 and a 1 year high of $325.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.37 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 1,026 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.70, for a total transaction of $289,024.20. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 27,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,656,887.70. The trade was a 3.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,588 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.01, for a total transaction of $1,008,263.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,298,380.79. This represents a 30.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,756 shares of company stock valued at $5,604,134. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture 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.