Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by City Holding Co.

City Holding Co. raised its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,974 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,497,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th 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 stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $2.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $308.98. 8,481,762 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,604,425. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day moving average of $301.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $337.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its 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). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The company had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, 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 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Redburn Atlantic upped their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $358.09.

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.