Compass Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Compass Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 14.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 192,541 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,322 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 3.9% of Compass Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Compass Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $58,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 29,204 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,248,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares during the period. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,646 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,279,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,559 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,671,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,594,000. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,393,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $2.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $333.27. The company had a trading volume of 1,518,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,841,372. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $208.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $315.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $326.24.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.33.

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.