Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Grove Bank & Trust

Grove Bank & Trust grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,529 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 226 shares during the quarter. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 68,296 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $24,026,000 after buying an additional 886 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 16,300 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,734,000 after purchasing an additional 3,160 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Accenture by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 13,733 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910 shares during the period. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $189,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $314.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $306.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $335.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.74 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $275.01 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.77 earnings per share. Equities research 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 given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho reduced their price target on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Accenture from $372.00 to $340.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $380.00.

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.