Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Short Interest Down 7.7% in June

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 7,470,000 shares, a drop of 7.7% from the June 15th total of 8,090,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,470,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays decreased their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Susquehanna cut their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. TD Cowen cut their price target on Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $351.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,609 shares of company stock worth $5,472,981 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of ACN stock traded up $5.95 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $331.55. 2,129,885 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,917,602. Accenture has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $207.78 billion, a PE ratio of 29.82, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $299.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $332.37.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

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.