Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Acquires Shares of 89,866 Accenture PLC $ACN

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI 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. The fund bought 89,866 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,183,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,726,831,000 after buying an additional 854,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,264,675 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,583,462,000 after buying an additional 129,610 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its position in Accenture by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,687,867,000 after acquiring an additional 343,420 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,922,212,000 after acquiring an additional 218,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,173,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,192,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122,855 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Dbs Bank downgraded Accenture from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $136.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $200.00 to $194.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $258.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.96.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $170.23 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $151.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.13. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $118.15 and a 12-month high of $291.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $113.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.08%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total transaction of $1,710,964.04. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,890,450.30. This represents a 37.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.