Argent Trust Co Buys 610 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Argent Trust Co raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,644 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during 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 bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $336.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $329.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $322.59.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Wedbush cut their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.91.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were 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 owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.