Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Private Advisor Group LLC

Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,991 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $6.63 on Friday, hitting $299.12. 3,158,860 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,900,785. The company’s fifty day moving average is $299.38 and its 200 day moving average is $335.07. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $187.46 billion, a PE ratio of 27.39, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,518,796. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Redburn Atlantic boosted their target price on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.74.

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.