CX Institutional Boosts Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• CX Institutional has increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 17.3%, now owning approximately $5.96 million worth of shares following a purchase of additional shares in the second quarter.
• Institutional investors own 75.14% of Accenture's stock, with major firms like Vanguard Group and Price T Rowe Associates also boosting their stakes in the company.
• Accenture's most recent earnings report revealed $3.49 earnings per share, beating analysts' expectations and marking a 7.7% year-over-year revenue increase to $17.73 billion.

CX Institutional grew its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 17.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,932 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,937 shares during the period. CX Institutional's holdings in Accenture were worth $5,957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new position in Accenture in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the first quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $325.00 to $271.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $290.00 to $260.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Accenture from $372.00 to $350.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $329.52.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $5.47 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $234.52. 3,817,679 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,685,149. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $234.10 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $256.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $288.31.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.