AdvisorNet Financial Inc Sells 445 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

AdvisorNet Financial Inc trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 33.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 903 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 445 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Accenture from $294.00 to $293.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Piper Sandler Companies lowered their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Wedbush cut their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $357.09.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $307.23 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $300.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $336.88. The firm has a market cap of $206.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.22.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm 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%. Accenture’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.19 EPS. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.96 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was 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 owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.