Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Sells 116,342 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 97.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,145 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 116,342 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.5% in the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 34,483 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,463,000 after acquiring an additional 2,092 shares during the period. Patron Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.7% during the second quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $555,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $415,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 10.2% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 57,564 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,465,000 after acquiring an additional 5,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp raised its position in Accenture by 6.5% during the second quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 11,503 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,490,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $349.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.04, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $327.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $324.00.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.68.

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.