Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Decreased by Paragon Capital Management Ltd

Paragon Capital Management Ltd cut its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,437 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 87 shares during the period. Paragon Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 1.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 48,035,644 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $13,729,067,000 after purchasing an additional 634,462 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Accenture by 2.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,453,884 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,560,765,000 after acquiring an additional 704,657 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Accenture by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,642,841 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,440,976,000 after acquiring an additional 2,163,582 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Accenture by 21.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,535,663 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,297,009,000 after acquiring an additional 2,060,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.7% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,463,180 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,269,319,000 after acquiring an additional 191,640 shares during the last quarter. 70.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $4.06 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $312.53. The stock had a trading volume of 3,339,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,313,004. The company’s fifty day moving average is $316.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $296.14. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $242.80 and a 52 week high of $330.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.22.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 22nd. The information technology services provider reported $3.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.96 by $0.23. Accenture had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 30.47%. The business had revenue of $16.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.79 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Leonardo Framil sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $311.52, for a total transaction of $934,560.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 16,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,064.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CEO Leonardo Framil sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $311.52, for a total transaction of $934,560.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 16,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,064.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,344 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $403,200.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 10,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,151,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,774 shares of company stock valued at $8,138,451. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ACN. Piper Jaffray Companies reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $316.00 to $314.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 12th. Societe Generale boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $314.00 to $373.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $310.00 to $343.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $335.25.

About Accenture

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.