Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV Acquires 864 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV grew its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 9.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,708 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 1.2% of Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV's holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV's holdings in Accenture were worth $3,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Advisory Resource Group raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 10.3% during the first quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 3,292 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,027,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors purchased a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth $206,000. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 5,912 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,845,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC now owns 3,502 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,093,000 after buying an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $45,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% 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 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ACN. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays lowered their target price on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased 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, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.00.

Accenture Stock Down 1.9%

ACN stock opened at $306.11 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $191.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.33. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $306.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $334.70. 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 current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

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 business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.49% and a net margin of 11.43%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

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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