Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Hills Bank & Trust Co

Hills Bank & Trust Co lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,259 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 33 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $685,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 29,204 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,248,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares during the period. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,646 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,279,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,559 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,671,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $4,594,000. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its position in shares of Accenture by 11.9% during the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.33.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of ACN stock traded up $1.61 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $334.88. 283,092 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,825,777. The business has a 50 day moving average of $315.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $325.95. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $209.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.51, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The company had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was 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 $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’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 sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.