Eagle Capital Management LLC Lowers Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Eagle Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,731 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 91 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 2.9% of Eagle Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Eagle Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total transaction of $1,422,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,518,796. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN traded down $0.50 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $302.05. 171,792 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,892,979. The company has a market cap of $189.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $300.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $336.05. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

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). The company had revenue of $16.47 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several research reports. Redburn Atlantic increased their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $409.00 to $295.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.74.

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.