Signaturefd LLC Sells 41 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Signaturefd LLC trimmed its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,444 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 41 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $281.01 on Monday. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $273.19 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $309.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $326.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.00 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Baird R W raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $370.71.

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.