Wendell David Associates Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 4.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,602 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,196 shares during the quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $21,246,236,000 after buying an additional 392,183 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,750,021,000 after purchasing an additional 136,665 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,994,922,000 after purchasing an additional 181,449 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Accenture Trading Down 1.9%
Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $5.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $306.11. 4,590,591 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,950,926. The business has a 50 day moving average of $306.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $334.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $275.01 and a 1 year high of $398.35.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.49% and a net margin of 11.43%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays reduced their price target on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.00.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on ACN
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
About Accenture
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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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