Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Trading Down 4.3%

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)’s stock price fell 4.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $338.67 and last traded at $339.04. 1,246,178 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 2,746,341 shares. The stock had previously closed at $354.12.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. 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. TD Cowen upped their price target on Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Piper Sandler Companies dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.91.

Accenture Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $329.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $322.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.22 billion, a PE ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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 Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. IronBridge Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. IronBridge Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,235 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,740 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,120,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $120,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.