Clear Rock Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Clear Rock Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,588 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the quarter. Clear Rock Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Searle & CO. grew its holdings in Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IronBridge Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. IronBridge Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,235 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Piper Sandler Companies decreased their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $351.82.

Accenture Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of ACN stock traded down $4.93 during trading on Friday, reaching $323.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,682,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,095,611. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $305.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $331.07. The company has a market cap of $202.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. Accenture’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS 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 paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

About Accenture

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.