Calamos Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 37.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,178 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 62,425 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $31,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 192,541 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $58,419,000 after buying an additional 24,322 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 7,192 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 4.9% in the second quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 5,047 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Field & Main Bank lifted its stake in Accenture by 3.9% in the second quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 5,062 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,536,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Institute for Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.4% in the second quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 2,201 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $668,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 17th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.33.

Accenture Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:ACN traded up $2.70 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $333.27. The company had a trading volume of 1,518,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,841,372. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $315.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $325.95. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $208.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.