Dearborn Partners LLC Acquires New Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Dearborn Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 126,620 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $25,108,000. Accenture accounts for 1.3% of Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ally Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth $2,178,000. S&G Foundation acquired a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter valued at $37,000. Davis Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at $92,086,000. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $398,000. Finally, Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $4,508,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $186.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $124.58 billion, a PE ratio of 14.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.37. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $118.15 and a 1-year high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current year.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total transaction of $1,710,964.04. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. This represents a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $180.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $253.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Accenture from $177.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their target price on Accenture from $275.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.78.

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.