4,325 Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Purchased by Exane Asset Management

Exane Asset Management purchased a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,325 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,312,000. Accenture accounts for approximately 0.9% of Exane Asset Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $125,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. IronBridge Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 2.3% during 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 during the period. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 4th 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.41.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $341.71 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $324.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $323.84. The company has a market capitalization of $214.15 billion, a PE ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.