Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Increased by Compass Capital Management Inc.

Compass Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 184,288 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,084 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 3.8% of Compass Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Compass Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $57,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Prentice Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,829 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Aries Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 14.0% during the first quarter. Aries Wealth Management now owns 6,056 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,890,000 after buying an additional 742 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in Accenture by 42.1% in the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 8,663 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,703,000 after acquiring an additional 2,566 shares during the period. Dohj LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $402,000. Finally, McBroom & Associates LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. McBroom & Associates LLC now owns 20,199 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,303,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.00.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:ACN traded up $2.91 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $314.62. 784,790 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,949,615. The firm has a market cap of $197.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.41, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $305.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $335.40. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $275.01 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Accenture 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.