Avity Investment Management Inc. Has $37.37 Million Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Avity Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,822 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,884 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 3.1% of Avity Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $37,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,945,673,000 after purchasing an additional 184,541 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after acquiring an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Accenture by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,479,430 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,975,517,000 after acquiring an additional 159,696 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,061,490,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,466,684 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,556,676,000 after purchasing an additional 68,635 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ACN. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.74.

Accenture Stock Up 0.1 %

Accenture stock traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $303.41. The stock had a trading volume of 14,905,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,036,297. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.51 billion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $300.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $336.15.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company 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.