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Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Argent Trust Co

Accenture logo with Computer and Technology background

Key Points

  • Accenture PLC saw a stake increase of 12.2% by Argent Trust Co, bringing their total holdings to 16,769 shares valued at $5.23 million.
  • The company reported $3.49 earnings per share for the latest quarter, exceeding the expected $3.32, with revenues climbing 7.7% year-over-year to $17.73 billion.
  • Accenture plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share on August 15, representing an annualized yield of 2.3% and a payout ratio of 47.13%.
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Argent Trust Co lifted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,769 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,826 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co's holdings in Accenture were worth $5,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.

View Our Latest Report on ACN

Accenture Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of ACN traded down $6.63 on Thursday, hitting $240.91. 2,180,798 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,469,538. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $240.49 and a one year high of $398.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $294.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $317.47. The company has a market capitalization of $150.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29. 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 (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Accenture (NYSE:ACN)

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