Marietta Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,958 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $7,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $21,246,236,000 after acquiring an additional 392,183 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,750,021,000 after buying an additional 136,665 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its position in Accenture by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,994,922,000 after purchasing an additional 181,449 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity
In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
Accenture Price Performance
Shares of ACN traded down $20.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $285.66. The stock had a trading volume of 11,638,670 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,930,074. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $306.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $333.68. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a market capitalization of $178.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.48.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho cut their price target on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.00.
Read Our Latest Research Report on ACN
Accenture Company Profile
(
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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