Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Has $4.93 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 18.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,789 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,498 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $4,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 30,256.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,067,651,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $666,495,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Mizuho decreased their target price on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $382.14.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $316.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,245,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,959,445. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $303.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $337.76. The company has a market cap of $197.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. 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 plc has a 12-month low of $275.01 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.77 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.