Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Heritage Trust Co

Heritage Trust Co trimmed its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,395 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 80 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 1.0% of Heritage Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Heritage Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. United Bank increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,969 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 1.3% during the first quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares during the last quarter. Fund Management at Engine No. 1 LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $1,805,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 104.8% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 441,451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $148,871,000 after buying an additional 225,943 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.42% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $0.35 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $326.51. The company had a trading volume of 347,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,311,949. The business’s 50-day moving average is $314.31 and its 200 day moving average is $293.45. The company has a market cap of $217.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.07, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.22. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $242.80 and a 52 week high of $328.88.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 22nd. The information technology services provider reported $3.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.96 by $0.23. Accenture had a return on equity of 30.47% and a net margin of 11.28%. The firm had revenue of $16.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.79 EPS. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.19, for a total transaction of $1,976,187.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 167,854 shares in the company, valued at $53,073,756.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.19, for a total transaction of $1,976,187.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 167,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,073,756.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.60, for a total transaction of $2,244,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,500.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,774 shares of company stock valued at $8,138,451. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $316.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Accenture from $322.00 to $316.00 in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. TD Cowen lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $325.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $310.00 to $343.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $330.55.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, interactive, 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 comprises 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 comprises turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.