Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by XML Financial LLC

XML Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,253 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in Accenture by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,348 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $473,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,215 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $777,000 after buying an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its stake in Accenture by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 285 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC now owns 3,196 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Essex Savings Bank lifted its stake in Accenture by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 4,976 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,746,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.8 %

Accenture stock traded down $2.56 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $328.06. 2,538,114 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,926,408. The company has a fifty day moving average of $304.49 and a 200-day moving average of $331.33. The company has a market cap of $205.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.23. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

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. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $351.82.

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.