Greenwood Gearhart Inc. Buys 2,288 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Greenwood Gearhart Inc. increased its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,726 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,288 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 1,325 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. PFG Advisors raised its stake in Accenture by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 21,005 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,554,000 after acquiring an additional 4,658 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 856 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $257,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Obermeyer Wealth Partners increased its position in Accenture by 21.3% during the 1st quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 10,018 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,126,000 after buying an additional 1,757 shares during the period. Finally, Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 8.7% in the first quarter. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,190 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE ACN traded down $4.39 on Thursday, reaching $281.65. The company had a trading volume of 2,744,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,358,601. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.29. The company's fifty day moving average is $304.11 and its 200 day moving average is $323.36. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $273.19 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 $1.48 dividend. 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. UBS Group restated 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Eight 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 presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $365.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% 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 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.