Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Has $73.02 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 11.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 240,679 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,342 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $73,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,802 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Boston Research & Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Research & Management Inc. now owns 18,402 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,583,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 51,835 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $15,727,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. ASB Consultores LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 7.2% during the second quarter. ASB Consultores LLC now owns 1,419 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 211.6% in the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $19,324,000 after purchasing an additional 43,249 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock opened at $336.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $210.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $332.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $322.44.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). The business 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 business’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Accenture from $320.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $356.41.

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.