Norway Savings Bank Boosts Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Norway Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,667 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Norway Savings Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in Accenture by 25.8% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 190 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 23.4% during the third quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,647 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 9.5% in the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 7,999 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,457,000 after buying an additional 693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 116,362 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $303.58 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $300.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $336.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 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). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Redburn Atlantic increased their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently 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 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.