Carnegie Investment Counsel Grows Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 98,733 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,246 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings in Accenture were worth $28,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5%

Accenture stock traded up $1.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $283.10. 2,629,706 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,347,475. 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 business's 50 day moving average is $303.28 and its 200 day moving average is $322.87. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a market capitalization of $177.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.54, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ACN. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on shares of Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $365.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.