Callahan Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Callahan Advisors LLC decreased its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 10.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,088 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 3,124 shares during the quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $8,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $321,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 47.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $861,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $317,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Down 2.5%

NYSE ACN traded down $7.35 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $281.01. 5,075,765 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,924,704. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $309.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $327.92. 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 PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $176.00 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. Analysts forecast 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 $1.48 dividend. 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 2.11%. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports 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. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $370.71.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

About Accenture

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.