Simmons Bank Grows Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Simmons Bank raised its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 29.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,160 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,428 shares during the period. Simmons Bank's holdings in Accenture were worth $4,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Visionary Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. United Community Bank increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. United Community Bank now owns 2,069 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $728,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tradition Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,981 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,863,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $304.58 on Friday. 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 $190.76 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $273.19 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The business's 50 day moving average is $309.55 and its 200-day moving average is $329.68.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group reaffirmed 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Seven 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $370.71.

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.

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