Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 257.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,731 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,408 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 0.5 %

Accenture stock traded down $1.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $316.52. 1,046,813 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,905,995. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $306.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $330.03. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.97, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23.

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 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 business had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $351.82.

Accenture Company 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.