Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE purchased a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 25,576 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,981,000. Accenture comprises about 1.5% of Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.
Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Accenture Trading Down 2.1%
Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $6.76 during 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 12-month low of $275.01 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $304.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $336.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $195.02 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. Accenture's 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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.
Accenture Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.89%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms recently issued reports on ACN. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned 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 an average price target of $382.15.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on ACN
Insider Activity at Accenture
In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
About Accenture
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
Before you consider Accenture, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Accenture wasn't on the list.
While Accenture currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
MarketBeat just released its list of 10 cheap stocks that have been overlooked by the market and may be seriously undervalued. Enter your email address and below to see which companies made the list.
Get This Free Report
