Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 120,931 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,689 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $37,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Visionary Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in Accenture by 3.5% in 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 lifted 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 acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New England Professional Planning Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $317.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company's fifty day moving average price is $303.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $337.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $382.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company's 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 sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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