Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Position Raised by Kestra Advisory Services LLC

Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,574 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,113 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $17,529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Searle & CO. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of ACN stock traded down $1.66 during trading on Friday, reaching $328.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,438,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,598,002. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $303.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $331.77. The company has a market cap of $205.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). The business 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 quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.19 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America cut their price target on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, May 24th. UBS Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $351.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 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.