Eldred Rock Partners LLC Buys 3,057 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Eldred Rock Partners LLC lifted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 10.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,037 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,057 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 3.1% of Eldred Rock Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Eldred Rock Partners LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $10,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Accenture by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $382.14.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2%

ACN stock traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $315.73. 1,726,575 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,961,245. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $303.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $337.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $197.75 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.77 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 48.89%.

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.