Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC Has $8.29 Million Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,574 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 45 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 1.5% of Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded down $3.95 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $282.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 914,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,347,689. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $304.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $323.36. The company has a market cap of $176.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $273.19 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $365.43.

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.