United Bank Invests $758,000 in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

United Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,430 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $758,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Visionary Wealth Advisors grew its stake in Accenture by 3.5% in 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 grew its stake in Accenture by 3.6% in 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 grew its stake in Accenture by 7.5% in 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. Tradition Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 0.3% in 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. Finally, Sentinus LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of ACN stock traded up $1.79 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $284.24. 676,140 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,901,351. The company has a market capitalization of $178.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.29. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $306.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $324.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $273.19 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. Research 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on shares of Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $365.43.

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.

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