Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 99,941 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 428 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $30,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Accenture by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,311,102,000 after buying an additional 131,544 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Accenture by 2.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,056,000 after buying an additional 173,107 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 4.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,316,086,000 after buying an additional 148,738 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Accenture by 6.2% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,044,810 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,055,362,000 after purchasing an additional 178,003 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $349.58 on Monday. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $219.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $328.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $323.04.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its 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). The business had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the company posted $3.19 EPS. As a group, 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler Companies lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.