Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. Purchases 45 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 76,665 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 2.0% of Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $23,923,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $382.15.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock opened at $311.37 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $195.02 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $305.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $335.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.