Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Buys 3,408 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 257.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,731 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,408 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. M. Kraus & Co raised its position in Accenture by 81.6% in the 2nd quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 19,778 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,001,000 after buying an additional 8,886 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co boosted its holdings in Accenture by 17.5% in the second quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 7,343 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 43.4% in the second quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 2,073 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $629,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the period. Professional Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 21.8% during the 2nd quarter. Professional Advisory Services Inc. now owns 68,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,855,000 after buying an additional 12,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NovaPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.1% during the second quarter. NovaPoint Capital LLC now owns 12,556 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,810,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $1.50 on Thursday, hitting $316.52. 1,046,813 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,905,995. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.36 billion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $306.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $330.03. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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 return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on ACN shares. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Piper Sandler Companies dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $351.82.

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.