Evanson Asset Management LLC Has $5.74 Million Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Evanson Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,388 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 394 shares during the quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 1.9%

NYSE:ACN opened at $306.11 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $306.94 and its 200 day moving average is $334.32. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.72 billion, a PE ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.49% and a net margin of 11.43%. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $380.00.

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.