Cornerstone Advisors LLC Sells 200 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,600 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 507.7% during the first 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 during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $349.58 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $328.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $323.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.08 billion, a PE ratio of 32.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were 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 owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley cut Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Piper Sandler 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 note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.68.

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.