Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Cut by Linscomb Wealth Inc.

Linscomb Wealth Inc. decreased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 36,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 207 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 0.6% of Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,061,490,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth $820,912,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $614,615,000 after acquiring an additional 875,723 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $288,168,000. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $286,220,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $347.84 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $325.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $323.63. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’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 in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. 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.com, the stock 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.