Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Grows Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 328.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 533,515 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 408,859 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned about 0.09% of Accenture worth $143,142,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 96.4% during the 4th quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 1st. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 8th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $259.89.

Accenture Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE ACN opened at $169.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $221.83. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $155.82 and a one year high of $317.30. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.40%.

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.