Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Stokes Capital Advisors LLC

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,861 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 396 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 1.8% of Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,134,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 30,256.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,067,651,000 after buying an additional 3,410,248 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $666,495,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $317.49 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $303.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $337.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market cap of $198.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $382.14.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.