Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,973 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,323 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $6,232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $630,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,891 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,838,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Selective Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,141 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp increased its holdings in Accenture by 3.2% in the first quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 8,763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,734,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA lifted its stake in Accenture by 2.6% in the first quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 65,062 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $20,302,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock traded down $1.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $318.02. 2,192,507 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,961,282. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.19 billion, a PE ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $304.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $336.42. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim cut their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Accenture from $372.00 to $340.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with 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 an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.62.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Profile

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.