Rathbones Group PLC Sells 24,467 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Rathbones Group PLC reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 978,450 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 24,467 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 1.6% of Rathbones Group PLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Rathbones Group PLC owned approximately 0.16% of Accenture worth $296,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Wedbush decreased their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $349.58 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.01, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. 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 $328.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $323.42.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

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.