Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Trading Down 4.3%

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) shares traded down 4.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $338.67 and last traded at $339.04. 1,246,178 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 2,746,341 shares. The stock had previously closed at $354.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Eleven 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 an average target price of $355.59.

Accenture Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $331.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $322.77. The firm has a market cap of $210.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,646 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,279,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,594,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 11.9% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 1,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after buying an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.