Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Buys 751 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 17.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,957 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 751 shares during the quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:ACN traded down $1.77 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $307.21. 4,362,532 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,801,698. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $301.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $337.29. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 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 return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. Accenture’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’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 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays cut their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $357.09.

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.