Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by CCLA Investment Management

CCLA Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 281,779 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 996 shares during the quarter. CCLA Investment Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $85,356,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,646 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,279,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,594,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Platform Technology Partners boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 1,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In 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

NYSE ACN opened at $336.93 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $211.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.85, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $329.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $322.59.

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 the consensus estimate 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 business earned $3.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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 $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies decreased their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. 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. Wedbush decreased their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.91.

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.