Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Has $35.75 Million Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 114,558 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,189 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 2.9% of Lee Danner & Bass Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $35,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $21,246,236,000 after purchasing an additional 392,183 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,750,021,000 after acquiring an additional 136,665 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,994,922,000 after purchasing an additional 181,449 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded down $3.07 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $301.71. The stock had a trading volume of 750,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,892,807. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $309.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $329.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company'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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Argus set a $370.00 target price on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $370.71.

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.