Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC

MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 13,858 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,159 shares during the period. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $20,699,110,000 after acquiring an additional 635,349 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased 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 worth $2,999,056,000 after purchasing an additional 173,107 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,061,490,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 4.1% in 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 buying an additional 148,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.2% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,044,810 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,055,362,000 after acquiring an additional 178,003 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ACN. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Accenture from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 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 $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $339.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $212.98 billion, a PE ratio of 31.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $323.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $324.30.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

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.