Townsend & Associates Inc Boosts Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Townsend & Associates Inc lifted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 75.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,961 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 1.6% of Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,945,673,000 after buying an additional 184,541 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after purchasing an additional 565,505 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after buying an additional 720,647 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Accenture by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,285,864 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,544,672,000 after buying an additional 443,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,466,684 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,556,676,000 after acquiring an additional 68,635 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $7.97 during trading on Thursday, reaching $304.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,679,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,488,809. The company has a market cap of $203.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.81, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $340.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $342.35. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $264.42 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% 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.