412,400 Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Purchased by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 412,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $125,126,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Accenture at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,699,110,000 after buying an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,311,102,000 after purchasing an additional 131,544 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,999,056,000 after purchasing an additional 173,107 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,086,000 after buying an additional 148,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Accenture by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,044,810 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,055,362,000 after buying an additional 178,003 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 0.1 %

Accenture stock opened at $349.58 on Monday. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $328.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $323.04. The company has a market capitalization of $219.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. UBS Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.68.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.