Journey Advisory Group LLC Grows Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Journey Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,420 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 286 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.0% of Journey Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Journey Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth 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. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 102 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ACN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $409.00 to $295.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $380.24.

Accenture Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of ACN traded down $3.26 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $297.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,363,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,517,781. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $288.46 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $319.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $342.67. The stock has a market cap of $199.70 billion, a PE ratio of 26.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, 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 three months, insiders have sold 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.