Creekmur Asset Management LLC Grows Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Creekmur Asset Management LLC increased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 108.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $36,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,594,000. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its holdings in Accenture by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,393,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $0.54 on Thursday, reaching $331.16. 463,557 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,912,304. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.28, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $304.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $331.33.

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 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 analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Barclays lowered their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $351.82.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. 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 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.