Greenwood Gearhart Inc. Purchases 4,009 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Greenwood Gearhart Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,115 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,009 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 2.4% of Greenwood Gearhart Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Greenwood Gearhart Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $18,896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barrett & Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Sageworth Trust Co raised its holdings in Accenture by 872.7% in the first quarter. Sageworth Trust Co now owns 107 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $32,000. Elequin Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, First Command Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 131.6% during the first quarter. First Command Financial Services Inc. now owns 132 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. 70.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.60, for a total transaction of $2,244,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,552,500.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,930 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.23, for a total value of $926,553.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 21,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,951,367.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.60, for a total transaction of $2,244,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,552,500.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,774 shares of company stock valued at $8,138,451. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $356.00 in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $316.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $292.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, June 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $310.00 to $343.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 15th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $334.65.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded down $5.56 on Tuesday, reaching $320.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 130,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,290,451. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $242.80 and a twelve month high of $330.43. The stock has a market cap of $212.89 billion, a PE ratio of 29.04, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $315.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.99.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 22nd. The information technology services provider reported $3.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.96 by $0.23. Accenture had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 30.47%. The company had revenue of $16.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.79 EPS. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Accenture

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, interactive, 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 comprises 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 comprises turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.