Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. Raises Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 247,241 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,664 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 3.0% of Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $75,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. JPL Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,959 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,111,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 14,642 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,443,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp boosted its position in Accenture by 265.1% in the 2nd quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp now owns 6,560 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,990,000 after purchasing an additional 4,763 shares in the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 28.1% during the 2nd quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 2,477 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $752,000 after buying an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 737 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their target price on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Barclays decreased their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Piper Sandler Companies reduced 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, Piper Sandler reduced 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. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.33.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $1.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $341.95. 2,004,144 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,997,440. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $319.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $325.26. The stock has a market cap of $214.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.23. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.