Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA decreased its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,929 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 9,255 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 1.4% of Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA's holdings in Accenture were worth $21,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 30,256.8% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 3,410,248 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $666,495,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Accenture Price Performance
ACN traded up $2.29 on Friday, hitting $304.58. 1,616,133 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,902,190. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $273.19 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $309.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $329.68. The stock has a market cap of $190.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.29.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.
Accenture Announces Dividend
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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.13%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Seven 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $370.71.
View Our Latest Report on Accenture
Insider Activity at Accenture
In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
Accenture Company Profile
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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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