Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,828,325 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 93,040 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.29% of Accenture worth $643,186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Accenture by 12.8% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 27,296 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $9,649,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Accenture by 18.0% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 489,830 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $173,145,000 after purchasing an additional 74,825 shares during the period. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management raised its position in Accenture by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.23.

Accenture Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $304.32 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $354.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $356.03. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $190.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.