Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC Reduces Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 11.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 800 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 101 shares during the quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its position in Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. 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. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $351.82.

Accenture Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ACN traded down $3.03 on Thursday, hitting $330.57. The stock had a trading volume of 1,677,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,849,541. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $207.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $314.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $326.76.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $16.47 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 value of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Accenture

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.