Griffin Asset Management Inc. Has $6.57 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 16.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,954 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,610 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $2,061,490,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $614,615,000 after purchasing an additional 875,723 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $288,168,000. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $286,220,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $263,421,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.74.

Accenture Stock Up 0.1 %

Accenture stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $303.41. The stock had a trading volume of 14,905,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,036,297. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $300.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $336.15. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $203.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $1.29 dividend. 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 (DPR) is currently 47.25%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.