Flossbach Von Storch SE increased its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 8.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,627,589 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 123,104 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 2.2% of Flossbach Von Storch SE's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Flossbach Von Storch SE owned about 0.26% of Accenture worth $507,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 47.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $861,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $1,019,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 29,241 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $10,287,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $370.71.
Read Our Latest Research Report on ACN
Accenture Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $6.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $297.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,177,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,903,000. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.19 billion, a PE ratio of 23.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.29. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $309.78 and a 200 day moving average of $328.62. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $273.19 and a twelve month high of $398.35.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.13%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture
In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were 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 owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Accenture Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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