Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Qtron Investments LLC

Key Points

• Qtron Investments LLC decreased its stake in Accenture PLC by 16.7%, selling 1,140 shares and maintaining 5,699 shares worth approximately $1.78 million at the end of the quarter.
• Accenture recently announced a $1.48 quarterly dividend with a yield of 2.4%, and has a dividend payout ratio of 47.13%.
• Wall Street analysts have a mixed outlook on Accenture, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21, amid various ratings from different firms.

Qtron Investments LLC lowered its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 16.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,699 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,140 shares during the quarter. Qtron Investments LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $1,778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Visionary Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Accenture by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Vivaldi Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,981 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,863,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Sentinus LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 1,103 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. HSBC started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $247.04 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $283.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $310.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $236.67 and a 52-week high of $398.35.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.