Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 98,335 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 70.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 98,335 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during 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 last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were 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 approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’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 sale, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of ACN opened at $354.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $221.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $329.17 and a 200 day moving average of $322.90. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. Accenture’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.68.

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.