Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Marietta Wealth Management LLC

Marietta Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,085 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Marietta Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. United Bank lifted its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,148,000 after buying an additional 1,168 shares during the period. Fund Management at Engine No. 1 LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $1,805,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 104.8% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 441,451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $148,871,000 after buying an additional 225,943 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.69 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $312.58. 1,104,192 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,337,878. The company has a market cap of $209.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day moving average is $359.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $342.09. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total transaction of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,417,957.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Redburn Atlantic upped their price target on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

About Accenture

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.