Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 10.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,187 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,018 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 1.7% of Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,232,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 282,340 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $75,752,000 after purchasing an additional 61,314 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 197.2% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $37,960,000 after buying an additional 93,880 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Accenture by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 557,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $149,582,000 after buying an additional 149,357 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $17,726,831,000 after acquiring an additional 854,361 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 335,314 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $89,965,000 after acquiring an additional 36,037 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ACN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $136.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, July 10th. HSBC dropped their target price on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 target price on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $190.00 price target on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Argus cut their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.96.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $179.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $151.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.08. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $118.15 and a 12 month high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. The trade was a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.