Richardson Financial Services Inc. Reduces Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Richardson Financial Services Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 35.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $42,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its position 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 period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture 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 transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.59.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $335.24 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.70, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $331.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $322.77.

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

Accenture 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.