Howard Capital Management Group LLC Sells 1,050 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Howard Capital Management Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 110,769 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,050 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 2.7% of Howard Capital Management Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Howard Capital Management Group LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $34,564,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the first quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,978 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,241,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at approximately $7,981,000. Osprey Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.3% in the first quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,965 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,095 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.0% in the first quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 9,233 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,881,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.7% in the first quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 5,855 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,827,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of ACN stock traded down $6.76 on Friday, hitting $311.37. The stock had a trading volume of 3,102,635 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,958,057. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $195.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.12, a PEG 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. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $304.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $336.13.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.77 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $382.15.

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.