Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Acquired by Saudi Central Bank

Saudi Central Bank increased its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 89.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,976 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,264 shares during the quarter. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,348,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $2,146,995,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $309,873,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Accenture by 120.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,482,150 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $690,475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,899,305 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $311,694,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,173,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,192,907,000 after buying an additional 1,122,855 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were 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 owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. This represents a 37.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on ACN. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $177.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Dbs Bank cut Accenture from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $165.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 8th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $194.19.

Accenture Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:ACN opened at $186.53 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $118.15 and a 12-month high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (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 return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.86 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

About Accenture

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.