Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,312 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 2.5% of Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $23,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.86.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock opened at $279.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market cap of $175.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $307.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $325.69. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture 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.