Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Position Cut by Arlington Partners LLC

Arlington Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,695 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,020 shares during the quarter. Arlington Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 1.9%

NYSE ACN opened at $300.66 on Wednesday. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $273.19 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $188.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $307.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $332.81.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ACN. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Benchmark reiterated a “mixed” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $370.75.

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.