Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 118,953 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,147 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $36,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $335.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $331.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $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 cap of $210.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.19 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies decreased their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.59.

About Accenture

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.