Davis Asset Management L.P. Acquires 100,000 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Davis Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 40.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 350,000 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 3.4% of Davis Asset Management L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Davis Asset Management L.P. owned 0.06% of Accenture worth $93,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $2,146,995,000. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 41.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,984,930 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $311,694,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 15.9% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $268,578,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ACN. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $258.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $259.89.

Accenture Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $169.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $113.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $155.82 and a 12-month high of $317.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $221.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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.