Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Sells 73,731 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC cut its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 10.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 611,528 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 73,731 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 0.6% of Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned about 0.10% of Accenture worth $185,544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after acquiring an additional 635,349 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,056,000 after acquiring an additional 173,107 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,061,490,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,466,684 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,556,676,000 after acquiring an additional 68,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,316,086,000 after buying an additional 148,738 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $0.77 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $330.21. The company had a trading volume of 1,790,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,866,953. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $311.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $326.99.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for 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%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 17th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, May 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $351.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.