Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Boosts Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 94,350 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,727 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 1.4% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $28,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 1,544 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 650 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 56,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $19,832,000 after acquiring an additional 2,744 shares during the period. Twin Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,932,000. Finally, Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp grew its stake in Accenture by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp now owns 1,780 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of ACN traded up $1.79 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $326.92. 2,292,799 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,881,293. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $311.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $327.28. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies lowered their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 17th. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, 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. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $351.82.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture 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 value of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 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 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 quarter. 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.