Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 614 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,121 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 1.8% of Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 worth $17,945,673,000 after acquiring an additional 184,541 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 720,647 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Accenture by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,479,430 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,975,517,000 after buying an additional 159,696 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $2,061,490,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.6% in 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. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $302.87. 572,955 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,803,223. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $300.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $336.65. The company has a market cap of $203.15 billion, a PE ratio of 27.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on ACN shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised 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. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.74.

Accenture Company 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.