Argent Trust Co Purchases 610 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Argent Trust Co grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,644 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 4.9 %

NYSE ACN opened at $336.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.85, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $329.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $322.59. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

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 the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business earned $3.19 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 47.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. Bank of America reduced their target price on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.91.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Accenture 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 completion of the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. 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 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture 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.