Zions Bancorporation N.A. Increases Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 133.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,258 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,719 shares during the quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Accenture by 2.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,999,056,000 after buying an additional 173,107 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $2,061,490,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 4.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,316,086,000 after acquiring an additional 148,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,044,810 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,055,362,000 after acquiring an additional 178,003 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Piper Sandler Companies dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $354.68.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN traded down $0.31 on Friday, reaching $349.58. 1,812,003 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,756,003. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $327.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $324.00. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $219.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Accenture Company 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.