Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.

Key Points

• W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 49.9%, bringing its total to 3,204 shares worth $1 million.
• CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares for approximately $635,795, reducing her ownership by 21.73% to 8,109 shares.
• Accenture reported earnings of $3.49 per share for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate by $0.17, with a revenue of $17.73 billion.

W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 49.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,204 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the period. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Visionary Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,981 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,863,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Sentinus LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 1,103 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $255.18 on Monday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $297.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $319.10. The company has a market cap of $159.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $254.20 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

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.

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