Obermeyer Wealth Partners Increases Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Obermeyer Wealth Partners boosted its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 21.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,018 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,757 shares during the quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners' holdings in Accenture were worth $3,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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 worth $1,067,651,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Accenture by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,667,393,000 after purchasing an additional 732,769 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $282.46 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $306.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $324.37. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $273.19 and a 12-month 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 market capitalization of $176.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $365.43.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.