Tran Capital Management L.P. Trims Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Tran Capital Management L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,609 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 255 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 1.0% of Tran Capital Management L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Tran Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,876,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Brave Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in Accenture by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Searle & CO. raised its position in Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its position in Accenture by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE ACN traded up $1.92 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $305.75. 1,751,215 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,312,141. The company has a market cap of $191.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.23. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $299.45 and a 200 day moving average of $335.28.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The company had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.74.

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.