Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC Decreases Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,634 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 244 shares during the quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 29,204 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,248,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares during the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,646 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,279,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,594,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its position in Accenture by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Finally, Platform Technology Partners boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 1,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN traded down $1.09 on Friday, reaching $339.84. 1,613,563 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,781,811. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $323.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $324.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.98 billion, a PE ratio of 31.12, a PEG 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.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.19 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. Piper Sandler Companies decreased their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Bank of America reduced 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. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.41.

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.