Accenture PLC $ACN Stake Decreased by Mirova

Key Points

• Mirova has reduced its holdings in Accenture PLC by 3.6%, now owning approximately 119,678 shares, valued at about $37.3 million.
• Accenture's CEO, Julie Spellman Sweet, recently sold 2,251 shares of the company, representing a 21.73% decrease in her position.
• Accenture reported a profit of $3.49 EPS for the latest quarter, exceeding expectations and indicating a 7.7% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Mirova trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 119,678 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 4,460 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 6.7% of Mirova's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Mirova's holdings in Accenture were worth $37,344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lipe & Dalton lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2,087.4% during the 1st quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 4,801 shares during the period. Alteri Wealth LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $321,000. United Bank bought a new position in Accenture during the first quarter worth about $758,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $317,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $334.00 to $302.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Argus set a $370.00 price target on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $358.08.

Accenture Stock Up 1.1%

ACN traded up $2.82 on Friday, hitting $258.99. The company had a trading volume of 1,085,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,531,992. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $273.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $303.49. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $236.67 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. Analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

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.