Islay Capital Management LLC Buys 501 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Islay Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 30.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Islay Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $749,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in Accenture by 171.8% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 6,718 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 4,246 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 1.5% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 197,376 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $60,616,000 after purchasing an additional 2,896 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA grew its position in shares of Accenture by 6.2% in the third quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 5,351 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,643,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders grew its position in shares of Accenture by 467.3% in the third quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 3,892 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,195,000 after purchasing an additional 3,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Suncoast Equity Management grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the third quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 125,378 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $38,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,686 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $1.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $301.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,995,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,456,486. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.14 billion, a PE ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50-day moving average is $348.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $342.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group increased their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Bank of America increased their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

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.