Councilmark Asset Management LLC Takes $3.22 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Councilmark Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,289 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,220,000. Accenture makes up about 2.3% of Councilmark Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $2,061,490,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $614,615,000 after acquiring an additional 875,723 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $288,168,000. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $286,220,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $263,421,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Piper Sandler Companies dropped their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $351.82.

Accenture Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ACN traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $329.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,376,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,941,180. 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 $206.30 billion, a PE ratio of 30.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $300.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $332.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 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 company had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 have sold 13,276 shares of company stock valued at $4,103,233 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.