Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Purchases 943 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 23.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,952 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 943 shares during the quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 392,183 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,750,021,000 after acquiring an additional 136,665 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Accenture by 16.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position 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. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $0.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $295.26. 4,159,093 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,894,859. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $308.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $331.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $273.19 and a one year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.01%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 now owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Argus set a $370.00 price target on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $370.71.

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.