Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Raises Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 5.0% in Q1 2023, now holding 206,580 shares worth approximately $64.46 million.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.3%, to be paid on August 15th.
• Accenture's latest quarterly earnings were $3.49 EPS, surpassing analysts' estimate of $3.32, while revenue reached $17.73 billion.

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 206,580 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,875 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $64,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Visionary Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $3,863,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Sentinus LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 1,103 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ACN. HSBC started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $360.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $255.18 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $297.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $319.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $254.20 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The company has a market capitalization of $159.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

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.

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