Apollon Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,335 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,472 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,999,056,000 after buying an additional 173,107 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,061,490,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 1.6% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 68,635 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.1% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 148,738 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $2.39 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $329.31. 1,678,197 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,873,726. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $311.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $327.28. 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 $206.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. UBS Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $409.00 to $295.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Mizuho cut their target price on Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $351.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.