Atsushi Egawa Sells 4,872 Shares of Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Stock

Key Points

• Accenture CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares on April 30 at an average price of $177.14 for about $863,026, reducing his stake by 27.57% to 12,802 shares; the sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
• Accenture recently beat quarterly EPS estimates ($2.93 vs. $2.84) with revenue up 7.8% year-over-year, announced a quarterly dividend of $1.63 (3.6% yield), and carries an average analyst price target of $274.50 with a "Moderate Buy" consensus.

Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $1.30 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $178.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,033,042 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,328,470. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $173.65 and a fifty-two week high of $325.71. The business's 50 day moving average price is $197.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $236.29. The company has a market cap of $119.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.82 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Accenture from $251.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Accenture from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $274.50.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 31.1% during the first quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 45,165 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $8,956,000 after buying an additional 10,706 shares during the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.2% during the first quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,665 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $727,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Corp grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 22.2% during the first quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 86,814 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $17,214,000 after buying an additional 15,770 shares during the last quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 97.4% during the first quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,616 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $519,000 after buying an additional 1,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 45.5% during the first quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 12,957 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,569,000 after buying an additional 4,049 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.

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