Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s 6th Largest Position

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lowered its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,934 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,211 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 1.5% of Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. IronBridge Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. IronBridge Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,235 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,740 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,120,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.59.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $335.24 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $331.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $322.77. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.09 billion, a PE ratio of 30.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released 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 return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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.