Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Raises Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 103,798 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 1.0% of Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $31,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in 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 last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, 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 the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $354.12 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $329.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $322.90. The company has a market capitalization of $221.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Piper Sandler Companies reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.68.

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.