Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 249,450 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 2.7% of Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $77,838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $370.71.

Accenture Trading Down 0.3%

Accenture stock traded down $0.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $295.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,159,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,894,859. The stock has a market cap of $184.93 billion, a PE ratio of 23.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $273.19 and a one year high of $398.35. The company has a 50 day moving average of $308.04 and a 200-day moving average of $331.42.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid 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 2.01%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.