Griffin Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 16.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 18,954 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,610 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its stake in Accenture by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 6,477 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,245,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Virginia VA lifted its position in Accenture by 0.4% during the first quarter. Trust Co. of Virginia VA now owns 27,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,367,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Opinicus Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $319,000. Avity Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 107,822 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $37,372,000 after buying an additional 6,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 9,155 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,173,000 after buying an additional 724 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.74.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $0.22 on Friday, hitting $303.41. 14,905,693 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,036,297. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $300.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $336.15. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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 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 revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.19 EPS. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 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.