Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Cuts Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lessened its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,386 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 9,714 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $34,402,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 29,204 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,248,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,646 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,279,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,594,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its stake in Accenture by 11.9% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Platform Technology Partners lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 1,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of ACN traded down $1.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $339.84. The company had a trading volume of 1,613,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,781,811. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $323.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $324.30. The company has a market capitalization of $212.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.12, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. Accenture’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on ACN. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Accenture from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays decreased their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Accenture from $372.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.41.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by 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.