SRN Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

SRN Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 15.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,263 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,453 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 2.2% of SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. UBS Group raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $351.82.

Accenture Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $4.93 during trading on Friday, hitting $323.15. 2,682,736 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,095,611. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $305.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $330.91. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $202.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

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.