Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC Raises Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,270 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 184 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 1.1% of Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,061,490,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in shares of Accenture by 100.0% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 875,723 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $288,168,000. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $286,220,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $263,421,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $1.92 on Thursday, reaching $305.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,751,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,312,141. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.61 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.23. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $299.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $335.28.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, 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 value of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $13,518,796. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Mizuho cut their target price on Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.74.

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.