Crestwood Advisors Group LLC cut its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 3.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 208,035 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 7,989 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 1.2% of Crestwood Advisors Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $64,915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 36.2% in 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 period. Guardian Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $594,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Plancorp LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 99.5% during the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,105 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $741,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Transactions at Accenture
In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Accenture Price Performance
NYSE ACN traded down $4.55 on Thursday, hitting $281.49. 1,559,599 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,352,006. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $304.11 and a 200-day moving average of $323.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $176.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.29.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $365.43.
View Our Latest Report on Accenture
Accenture Profile
(
Free Report)
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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