Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,563 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 438 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Cypress Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture in the first quarter worth approximately $383,000. Transform Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 52.8% during the 1st quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 35,389 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,266,000 after acquiring an additional 12,231 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,459 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $506,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stokes Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 18,121 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Up 0.1 %

Accenture stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $303.41. 11,353,125 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,890,160. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $300.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $336.65. The stock has a market cap of $203.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid 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 1.70%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Redburn Atlantic increased their price target on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler Companies lowered 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285 in the last quarter. 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.