Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Janney Montgomery Scott LLC

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC cut its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,441 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 6,101 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $30,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of ACN traded down $5.92 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $306.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,590,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,950,928. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $275.01 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company's 50-day moving average is $306.52 and its 200-day moving average is $334.70.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.49% and a net margin of 11.43%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.77 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Accenture from $372.00 to $340.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.00.

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.