Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Stonegate Investment Group LLC

Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,198 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,109 shares during the quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $11,160,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.7 %

ACN traded down $2.24 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $300.92. The stock had a trading volume of 5,224,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,496,410. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $347.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $342.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price objective (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 target price (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

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.