Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Acquires 2,092 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,483 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,092 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its position in Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.41.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $339.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $212.98 billion, a PE ratio of 31.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $323.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $324.30.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

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.