Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. Cuts Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 81.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,941 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 8,546 shares during the quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Searle & CO. raised its position in Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IronBridge Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. IronBridge Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,235 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. 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. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN traded up $2.70 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $333.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,518,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,841,372. The company has a market capitalization of $208.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $315.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $326.24. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company 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%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.19 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Bank of America cut their target price on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.33.

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.