Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,344 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 29,204 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,248,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares during the period. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,646 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,279,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,559 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,671,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,098,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $4,594,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Piper Sandler Companies reduced their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $351.82.

Accenture Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:ACN traded up $3.84 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $297.99. The company had a trading volume of 2,987,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,891,944. 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 $186.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $299.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $333.68.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the 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 $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.