First Long Island Investors LLC Grows Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

First Long Island Investors LLC raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 27.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 65,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,283 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 1.9% of First Long Island Investors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. First Long Island Investors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $22,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 184,541 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 720,647 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake 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 worth $2,975,517,000 after purchasing an additional 159,696 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $2,061,490,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 1.6% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies decreased their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $351.82.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $3.82 during trading on Thursday, hitting $297.99. The company had a trading volume of 2,985,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,891,965. The business’s 50-day moving average is $298.98 and its 200 day moving average is $333.43. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $186.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.29, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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). 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 analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’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 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’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 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total transaction of $1,422,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 42,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,518,796. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.