MJP Associates Inc. ADV Cuts Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV lowered its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,615 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Accenture were worth $490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $226,000. Financial Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 17,660 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,197,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 295,620 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $103,736,000 after buying an additional 72,005 shares during the period. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $798,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $24,194,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $315.83. 1,851,305 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,906,728. The stock has a market cap of $197.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.92, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $307.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $329.01. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 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 the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies lowered their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Susquehanna cut their target price on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company 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 given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $351.82.

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.