Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp Boosts Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 265.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,560 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,763 shares during the period. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,056,000 after buying an additional 173,107 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $2,061,490,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,086,000 after acquiring an additional 148,738 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 16th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, May 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.33.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

ACN traded up $1.74 on Friday, hitting $341.95. The company had a trading volume of 2,004,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,997,440. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $319.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $325.26. The company has a market cap of $214.30 billion, a PE ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the company posted $3.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

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.