Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Evanson Asset Management LLC

Evanson Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,388 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,738,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Accenture by 30,256.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,067,651,000 after buying an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings 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 worth $4,283,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $666,495,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $380.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $306.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $191.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $306.94 and a 200-day moving average of $334.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.49% and a net margin of 11.43%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.89%.

Accenture 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.