Cambridge Advisors Inc. Sells 415 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Cambridge Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,260 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 415 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 0.8% of Cambridge Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Cambridge Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ACN. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. BMO Capital Markets lowered 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.74.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $303.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The business’s fifty day moving average is $300.17 and its 200-day moving average is $336.15.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’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 value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.