Norges Bank Takes Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 8,002,218 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,146,995,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Running Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 14.3% in the third quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 57,541 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $14,190,000 after buying an additional 7,190 shares during the period. Weitz Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 28.8% in the third quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 160,550 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $39,592,000 after buying an additional 35,900 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 61,314 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in Accenture by 180.4% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 404,680 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $99,794,000 after buying an additional 260,357 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 197.2% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $37,960,000 after buying an additional 93,880 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $187.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $124.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $185.71 and a 200 day moving average of $226.50. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $155.82 and a twelve month high of $321.77.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $18.04 billion during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s 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 trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.50.

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.