Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 26.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,992 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 3,255 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $0.94 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $282.65. The stock had a trading volume of 631,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,350,231. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business's fifty day moving average price is $303.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $322.87. The firm has a market cap of $177.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $273.19 and a 52-week high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on ACN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $365.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.