Donaldson Capital Management LLC Has $80.04 Million Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 228,087 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,070 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 3.6% of Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $80,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. United Bank boosted its holdings in Accenture by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,969 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Weitz Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $30,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the last quarter. Fund Management at Engine No. 1 LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth $1,805,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,459,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 104.8% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 441,451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $148,871,000 after acquiring an additional 225,943 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of ACN traded down $2.13 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $313.27. 2,996,310 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,355,717. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $360.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $342.00. The company has a market capitalization of $210.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $2,267,312.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,884,051.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 target price (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 target price (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

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.