Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 143,663 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,181 shares during the period. Czech National Bank's holdings in Accenture were worth $44,829,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $1.54 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $312.94. The stock had a trading volume of 3,678,232 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,970,416. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $275.01 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a market cap of $196.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $302.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $338.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $382.14.

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.