Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Acquires 1,091 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 30,085 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.4% of Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $340.73. 179,933 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,773,476. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.53 billion, a PE ratio of 31.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The business has a 50-day moving average of $322.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $324.78.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on ACN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective 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. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.33.

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.