Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc.

Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,401 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 1.7% of Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 29,204 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,248,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,646 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,279,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,559 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,671,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,594,000. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 11.9% during the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $1.79 during trading on Friday, hitting $326.92. The stock had a trading volume of 2,292,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,881,293. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $311.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $327.53. The company has a market capitalization of $204.88 billion, a PE ratio of 29.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. UBS Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $351.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company 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.