Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by UMB Bank n.a.

UMB Bank n.a. lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 73,962 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 3,169 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $23,079,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 29.5% in the first quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,810 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $565,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.4% during the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 120,931 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $37,735,000 after buying an additional 1,689 shares during the period. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.8% during the first quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,861 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $7,134,000 after buying an additional 396 shares during the period. Radnor Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the first quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 18,651 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $5,820,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Verum Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 3.8% during the first quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $565,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ACN. Barclays lowered their price target on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $382.14.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $2.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $317.49. 2,308,334 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,970,076. The business's 50-day moving average price is $303.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $337.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The company has a market capitalization of $198.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture 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.