Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Strategic Investment Advisors MI

Strategic Investment Advisors MI lowered its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 9.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 107 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Advisors MI’s holdings in Accenture were worth $310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Visionary Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Accenture by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Vivaldi Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its position in Accenture by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. United Community Bank increased its stake in Accenture by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. United Community Bank now owns 2,069 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $728,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,981 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,863,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Baird R W raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $370.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $294.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $273.19 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $307.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $332.55. The company has a market capitalization of $184.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.46, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Accenture Company 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.