Marcum Wealth LLC Raises Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,925 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Searle & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wedbush lowered their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $358.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was 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 owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $309.24 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $301.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $337.26. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.42 billion, a PE ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

About Accenture

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.