Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Buys 10,266 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 224,716 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,266 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 2.3% of Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Accenture were worth $68,181,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. HTLF Bank bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $440,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $142,000. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,547 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,245,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $763,000. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 318.0% during the 4th quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 209 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Mizuho cut their price target on Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Eleven investment 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 a consensus price target of $351.82.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $330.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,790,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,866,953. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $206.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $312.62 and a 200 day moving average of $326.69.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued 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). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

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.