Rockland Trust Co. Buys 24,343 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Rockland Trust Co. boosted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 23.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 126,495 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 24,343 shares during the quarter. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $15,741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Accenture by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 282,340 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $75,752,000 after purchasing an additional 61,314 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 197.2% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $37,960,000 after purchasing an additional 93,880 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 557,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $149,582,000 after purchasing an additional 149,357 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after buying an additional 854,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd grew its position in Accenture by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 335,314 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $89,965,000 after buying an additional 36,037 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total value of $1,710,964.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. The trade was a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $258.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $253.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $200.00 to $194.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 20th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Accenture from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.96.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $175.49 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $151.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $187.15. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $118.15 and a twelve month high of $291.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $117.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.02, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. Accenture’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.49 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.08%.

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.