Allstate Corp Acquires 23,958 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Allstate Corp boosted its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 103.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 47,119 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,958 shares during the quarter. Allstate Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 878 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $236,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. now owns 4,416 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 5,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,461,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,751 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,108,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 6th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Up 0.1%

Accenture stock opened at $179.36 on Tuesday. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $155.82 and a 1-year high of $321.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $228.20.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion during 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%. Accenture’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.82 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 53.40%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.