Welch Group LLC increased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 10.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,415 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,040 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $6,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tompkins Financial Corp grew its holdings in Accenture by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 18,846 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $5,881,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 30,256.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,067,651,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the first quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 16,766 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $5,232,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.5% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 2,943 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $918,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 31.2% during the 1st quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 14,205 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,433,000 after purchasing an additional 3,381 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Accenture Stock Down 0.3%
ACN stock traded down $1.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $316.71. The stock had a trading volume of 4,012,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,972,621. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $302.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $338.74. The company has a market capitalization of $198.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.57, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.77 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 48.89%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Seven 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $382.14.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Accenture
Insider Transactions at Accenture
In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction 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 approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Accenture Company Profile
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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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