Cwm LLC Reduces Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Cwm LLC cut its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,718 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,683 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $28,435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Hilltop National Bank increased its position in shares of Accenture by 8.8% during the second quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 2,953 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $896,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at about $293,000. Apella Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the second quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 9,410 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,805,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of Accenture by 132.4% during the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 67,573 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,519,000 after buying an additional 38,502 shares during the period. Finally, Arden Trust Co increased its position in shares of Accenture by 2.9% during the second quarter. Arden Trust Co now owns 5,671 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,721,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded down $0.43 on Wednesday, reaching $318.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,327,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,918,304. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $306.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $330.11. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $199.45 billion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly 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). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business 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 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies decreased 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. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.