13,826 Shares in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Purchased by Wills Financial Group LLC

Key Points

• Wills Financial Group LLC added 13,826 shares of Accenture PLC, valued at approximately $4.3 million, making it the firm's 19th largest position.
• Accenture recently reported a strong quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $3.49, beating estimates and reflecting a 7.7% revenue growth year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with a yield of 2.3%, to be paid to shareholders of record on July 10th.

Wills Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,826 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,314,000. Accenture accounts for about 1.9% of Wills Financial Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 4.5%

Accenture stock opened at $255.18 on Monday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $297.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $319.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $159.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $254.20 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. Barclays reduced their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Argus set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI started coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.

About Accenture

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.

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