Rockland Trust Co. Buys 1,177 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Rockland Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,647 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,177 shares during the quarter. Rockland Trust Co.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $21,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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 fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 30,256.8% in 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 last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $666,495,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock traded down $6.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $311.37. 3,102,635 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,958,057. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a market capitalization of $195.02 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 has a fifty day moving average of $304.89 and a 200 day moving average of $336.13.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.89%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% 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 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim cut their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays decreased their price objective on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $382.15.

Accenture Company 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.