Advisory Services Network LLC Boosts Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Advisory Services Network LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,990 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 17th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $351.82.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock traded up $9.97 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $307.96. 869,193 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,876,756. The company has a market capitalization of $193.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.29, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $298.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $333.43. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.19 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.