Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by DGS Capital Management LLC

DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 19.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,963 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 490 shares during the quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,027,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $304.60 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $300.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $336.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $204.31 billion, a PE ratio of 27.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Piper Sandler Companies lowered their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, May 24th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total transaction of $1,422,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,518,796. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value 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. Insiders have sold a total of 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.