Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. Buys Shares of 23,422 Accenture PLC $ACN

Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 23,422 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,284,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Davis Capital Management purchased a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 96.4% in the fourth quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $179.96 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $196.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $235.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.09. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $173.65 and a one year high of $325.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total transaction of $1,461,130.11. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,963.65. This represents a 28.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 10,943 shares of company stock worth $2,327,545 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $313.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.50.

About Accenture

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.