Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC Sells 553 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 553 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 1.0% of Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 29.5% during the first quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,810 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $565,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.4% during the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 120,931 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $37,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689 shares during the last quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.8% during the first quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,861 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,134,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares during the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.8% during the first quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 18,651 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,820,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verum Partners LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 3.8% during the first quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.7%

ACN stock opened at $317.49 on Friday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.01 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $303.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $337.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $198.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Mizuho lowered their target price on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays lowered their target price on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $382.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.