Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 23.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 138,928 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 43,124 shares during the period. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $48,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,551 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 5,349 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,896,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 1,209 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BLB&B Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 1,898 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $666,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Piper Sandler Companies cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $351.82.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $1.25 on Tuesday, hitting $327.45. 703,113 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,922,458. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.21 billion, a PE ratio of 30.00, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $303.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $331.52.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.19 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Accenture 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.