Professional Advisory Services Inc. Has $20.99 Million Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Professional Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 11.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,278 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,740 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 2.9% of Professional Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Professional Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $20,993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davidson Trust Co. grew its stake in Accenture by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $812,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in 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 worth $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 259,159 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $90,425,000 after purchasing an additional 56,829 shares during the period. Alteri Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $321,000. Finally, Sycomore Asset Management grew its stake in Accenture by 93.1% in the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 57,242 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $20,367,000 after acquiring an additional 27,596 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE:ACN opened at $317.49 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $303.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $337.11. The company has a market capitalization of $198.85 billion, a PE ratio of 26.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $382.14.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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