CIBC Asset Management Inc Has $44.79 Million Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 70.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 167,033 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 69,269 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $44,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,726,831,000 after purchasing an additional 854,361 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,938,156,000 after purchasing an additional 118,460 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 41.1% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,223,839,000 after purchasing an additional 4,984,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,922,212,000 after buying an additional 218,719 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Accenture by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,869,199,000 after buying an additional 546,198 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 4.3%

ACN opened at $178.14 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $184.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $225.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $118.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $155.82 and a twelve month high of $321.77.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The company 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 period last year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.88 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.58.

Accenture Company 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.