Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas Buys 13,244 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas lifted its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 8.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 172,023 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,244 shares during the quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings in Accenture were worth $21,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. National Pension Service increased its stake in Accenture by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,564,857 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $194,731,000 after purchasing an additional 82,362 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its stake in Accenture by 5.2% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 15,708 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after buying an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 26.7% in the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,071 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $755,000 after buying an additional 1,278 shares during the period. C WorldWide Group Holding A S increased its position in shares of Accenture by 43.9% during the second quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 6,777 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $843,000 after acquiring an additional 2,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 19.8% during the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Accenture from $275.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Accenture from $165.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Accenture from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on Accenture from $180.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Accenture from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $194.19.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN traded up $5.88 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $183.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,886,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,943,854. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $165.95 and its 200-day moving average is $175.44. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $118.15 and a 52 week high of $291.09. The firm has a market cap of $122.74 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.10.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.86 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total transaction of $1,710,964.04. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. This trade represents a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Accenture

Accenture plc is a global professional services company that helps organizations improve business performance through consulting, technology, and managed services. Its offerings include strategy and consulting, technology implementation, operations support, and business process services.

The company provides digital transformation services involving cloud computing, artificial intelligence, data and analytics, cybersecurity, systems integration, and enterprise software. Through its Song and Industry X businesses, Accenture also supports customer experience, marketing, product engineering, and smart manufacturing initiatives.

Accenture serves clients across a broad range of industries, including financial services, health care, public service, communications, media and technology, consumer goods, retail, resources, and industrial markets.