Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Suncoast Equity Management

Suncoast Equity Management boosted its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 127,681 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,174 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 4.5% of Suncoast Equity Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Suncoast Equity Management's holdings in Accenture were worth $39,842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 38,049 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $13,385,000 after purchasing an additional 4,739 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 6,720 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,364,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Mattern Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 28,673 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $10,087,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the period. Finally, Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 77.0% during the 4th quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 4,231 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were 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 now owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $285.66 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $273.19 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The firm's 50 day moving average is $306.98 and its 200-day moving average is $333.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.59, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 26.49%. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $340.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.00.

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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