Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Sells 1,527 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC decreased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,698 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,527 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 1.7% of Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 77.9% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 9,832 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,020,000 after purchasing an additional 4,305 shares in the last quarter. Elevatus Welath Management bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth $244,000. Legacy Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.4% in the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 17,140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,264,000 after acquiring an additional 1,896 shares during the period. Kingfisher Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the third quarter. Kingfisher Capital LLC now owns 9,842 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,022,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, KPP Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth $788,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Barclays cut their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 17th. 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 report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Twelve research 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, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, 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 other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $1.92 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $305.75. The stock had a trading volume of 1,751,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,312,141. The company has a market cap of $191.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.23. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $299.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $335.28.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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 during 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 quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

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.