Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC lessened its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,961 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,301 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 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 buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

ACN stock traded up $1.63 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $341.84. 2,004,018 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,810,327. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $319.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $325.69. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly 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). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. 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 firm’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 value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.