Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Alta Advisers Ltd

Alta Advisers Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 58.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,268 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd's holdings in Accenture were worth $1,020,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,608 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $814,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Smith Salley Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Accenture by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 54,336 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $16,955,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares in the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,252 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Nicholson Meyer Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,771,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.62 on Wednesday, hitting $302.00. The stock had a trading volume of 2,748,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,902,731. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $273.19 and a one year high of $398.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $308.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $330.60. The company has a market cap of $189.15 billion, a PE ratio of 24.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm 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 company's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 15,882 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% 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 valued at $2,507,366 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $370.71.

Accenture Company 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.