Aviva PLC Purchases 25,214 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Aviva PLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 633,069 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,214 shares during the period. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $169,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 46.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in Accenture by 49.8% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in Accenture by 23.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $167.69 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $182.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $222.20. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $155.82 and a fifty-two week high of $318.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.59 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08. 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:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.82 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ACN. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $260.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price 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. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.89.

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.