State of Alaska Department of Revenue Reduces Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue cut its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,291 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Accenture were worth $25,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $1.92 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $305.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,751,182 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,899,779. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $299.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $335.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.61 billion, a PE ratio of 27.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 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 firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.19 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’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 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was 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 $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were 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. Insiders sold a total of 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Redburn Atlantic raised their price target on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Wedbush lowered their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.