Richelieu Gestion SA Acquires 4,303 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Richelieu Gestion SA increased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6,519.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,369 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,303 shares during the period. Richelieu Gestion SA’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,514,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock traded down $3.85 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $303.32. The stock had a trading volume of 1,979,260 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,808,868. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $300.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $336.88. The stock has a market cap of $203.45 billion, a PE ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.74.

Accenture Company 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.