Argent Capital Management LLC Has $24.02 Million Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Argent Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 2.7% in the second quarter, holding 80,360 shares valued at approximately $24.02 million.
• Accenture's quarterly earnings exceeded expectations with $3.49 earnings per share, rising above analysts' consensus estimate of $3.32, and reported revenue of $17.73 billion.
• Institutional investors currently own 75.14% of Accenture's stock, with multiple firms increasing their stakes significantly during the first two quarters of the year.

Argent Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,360 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,094 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $24,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Redwood Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.2% during the first quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 22,087 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,892,000 after buying an additional 1,287 shares in the last quarter. Lipe & Dalton increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2,087.4% during the first quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,570,000 after buying an additional 4,801 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 40.5% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 98,633 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $30,777,000 after buying an additional 28,446 shares in the last quarter. Park National Corp OH increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.3% during the second quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 129,667 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $38,756,000 after buying an additional 5,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.5% during the second quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 234,066 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $69,960,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $239.57 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.30. The company's 50-day moving average is $256.92 and its 200-day moving average is $288.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $234.18 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $270.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $350.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $305.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $335.61.

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.

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