Truist Financial Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 23.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 407,517 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 78,184 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned 0.07% of Accenture worth $127,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Seven equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $370.71.

Accenture Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $304.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $309.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $329.68. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $273.19 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $190.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the 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 directly owned 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.