Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Buys 4,112 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,026 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,112 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Accenture were worth $13,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ACN. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler Companies reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.68.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $349.58 on Monday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $219.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.01, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $328.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $323.04.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Accenture 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 transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.