Czech National Bank Buys 7,881 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Czech National Bank boosted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 135,482 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,881 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $47,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC grew its position in Accenture by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 4,899 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,486,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 139.7% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 8,630 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,619,000 after buying an additional 5,029 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,994,000. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 20,620 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,256,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rock Point Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 17.8% in the second quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 28,826 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,746,000 after purchasing an additional 4,357 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $349.93 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $357.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $344.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.62, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.04.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company 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.