Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Raises Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 16.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 609,226 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 86,848 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 1.9% of Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned 0.09% of Accenture worth $211,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the first 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 in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN traded down $0.50 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $302.05. The stock had a trading volume of 171,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,892,979. The firm has a market capitalization of $189.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.70, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $300.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $336.05. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Wedbush dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.74.

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.