Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 14.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 869 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $264,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $343.91 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $322.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $324.67. The stock has a market cap of $215.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other 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 directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Accenture

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.