Diversify Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Diversify Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 15.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,745 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,153 shares during the quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $2,610,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $21,246,236,000 after acquiring an additional 392,183 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,750,021,000 after buying an additional 136,665 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of 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. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,994,922,000 after buying an additional 181,449 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $282.37. 4,207,339 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,909,827. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $306.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $324.54. The company has a market capitalization of $176.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $273.19 and a 52-week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This trade 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 through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Barclays lowered their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $365.43.

Accenture Company 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.