Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by New Century Financial Group LLC

New Century Financial Group LLC trimmed its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 647 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 94 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered 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 research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Twelve 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.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.74.

Accenture Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $305.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $191.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $299.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $335.07. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The company had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.19 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. 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.