Meeder Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 79.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 303 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,157 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $92,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 8.2% in 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 in the last quarter. IronBridge Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. IronBridge Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,235 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,740 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,120,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Barclays cut their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 17th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies lowered 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. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.68.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, 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 available through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction 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 sale, the general counsel now directly 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.1 %

ACN stock opened at $349.58 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $328.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $323.42. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $219.08 billion, a PE ratio of 32.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS 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 business had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

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.