Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 101.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,921 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,554 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $282.37. The company had a trading volume of 4,207,339 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,926,240. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $273.19 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The company has a market capitalization of $176.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.29. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $306.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $325.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Eight research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $365.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.