Mcrae Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Mcrae Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 47,367 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,822 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 2.6% of Mcrae Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Mcrae Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,146,995,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,223,839,000 after buying an additional 4,984,930 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $311,694,000. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $268,578,000. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 1,307,722 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $350,862,000 after buying an additional 969,792 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price objective on Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $178.14 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $184.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $225.13. 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 PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $321.77. The firm has a market cap of $118.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The business had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.82 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

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.