Baker Avenue Asset Management LP Sells 596 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP cut its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 14.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,669 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 596 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,145,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 4.5%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $255.18 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $254.20 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.83 billion, a PE ratio of 20.32, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $319.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 47.13%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

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 transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Accenture to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Benchmark reiterated a “mixed” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Guggenheim decreased their target price 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, Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on shares of Accenture and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $360.21.

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.