AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,686 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $526,000.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Copperwynd Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 3,163 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $987,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council grew its stake in Accenture by 141.7% in the 1st quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 40,257 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $12,562,000 after acquiring an additional 23,600 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 43,002 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $13,418,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Balentine LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 240.5% during the 1st quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 3,388 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 2,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Willner & Heller LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Willner & Heller LLC now owns 780 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Insider Transactions at Accenture
In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's 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 sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Accenture Price Performance
Shares of ACN stock traded up $4.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $286.60. 1,434,312 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,904,606. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. 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 $179.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.29. The stock's 50-day moving average is $306.32 and its 200-day moving average is $324.37.
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 firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.
Accenture Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.13%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays cut their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Argus set a $370.00 price target on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $365.43.
Read Our Latest Analysis on ACN
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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