Sawyer & Company Inc Raises Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sawyer & Company Inc increased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,665 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 2.0% of Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,945,673,000 after buying an additional 184,541 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after buying an additional 720,647 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $2,061,490,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,466,684 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,556,676,000 after purchasing an additional 68,635 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total transaction of $1,422,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,518,796. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Redburn Atlantic boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.74.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $303.58 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $203.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $300.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $336.15.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. 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.