Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. decreased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 30.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 132,062 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 58,877 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $45,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 352.3% in the 1st quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 6,129 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,124,000 after purchasing an additional 4,774 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 20.3% in the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,222 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,930,000 after acquiring an additional 2,402 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP grew its position in shares of Accenture by 31.3% during the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 6,367 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,517 shares during the period. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 8,240 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,856,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $5,099,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total transaction of $1,422,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares in the company, valued at $13,518,796. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 2.2 %

Accenture stock traded down $6.61 during trading on Friday, hitting $299.14. The company had a trading volume of 3,158,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,131,430. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $299.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $334.77. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $187.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush reduced their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.74.

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.