Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada Invests $318,000 in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada has acquired 1,019 shares of Accenture PLC, valued at approximately $318,000, making it the firm's 27th largest position.
• Accenture reported earnings per share (EPS) of $3.49 for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations and marking a revenue increase of 7.7% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, which represents an annualized yield of 2.3%, with payment scheduled for August 15th.

Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada purchased a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,019 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $318,000. Accenture accounts for approximately 0.7% of Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 30,256.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,067,651,000 after buying an additional 3,410,248 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2,782.1% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,445,281 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $450,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395,135 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,667,393,000 after purchasing an additional 732,769 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $225,217,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Accenture Trading Down 2.3%

Accenture stock traded down $5.72 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $241.82. The company had a trading volume of 7,245,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,477,017. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $239.82 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $292.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $316.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market cap of $151.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.13%.

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.