Lafayette Investments Inc. Buys 1,042 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,167 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 75,708 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $23,624,000 after acquiring an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at $221,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.0% during the first quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 301,102 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $93,956,000 after buying an additional 3,103 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,492 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,586,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $843,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $296.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $185.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $273.19 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $307.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $332.11.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays decreased their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $370.71.

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.

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