Windward Capital Management Co. CA Sells 3,340 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Windward Capital Management Co. CA cut its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 129,108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,340 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 3.3% of Windward Capital Management Co. CA’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Windward Capital Management Co. CA’s holdings in Accenture were worth $39,172,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gallacher Capital Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 892 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Umpqua Bank raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.6% in the second quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 3,816 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.6% in the second quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,783 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,789,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY boosted its holdings in Accenture by 3.0% during the second quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 2,137 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction, 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 available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $339.84 on Friday. The stock 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 fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $323.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $324.30.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.