Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,935 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,666 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 1.6% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $12,149,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Visionary Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Vivaldi Capital Management LP raised its stake in 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. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,981 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,863,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Sentinus LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% 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 worth $1,646,780 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim decreased their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on shares of Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $365.43.

Accenture Trading Down 0.1%

ACN stock traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $282.37. 4,207,339 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,909,827. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $273.19 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $306.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $324.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 2.65 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, beating 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 company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

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.