Jensen Investment Management Inc. Sells 446,763 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Jensen Investment Management Inc. has reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 19.6%, holding approximately 1.84 million shares, which represents 6.3% of its portfolio, making it the firm's 4th largest position.
• Insider transactions indicate a selling trend, with key executives, including CEO Julie Spellman Sweet, reducing their ownership by 21.73% and 3.72% respectively, with total insider sales amounting to $1.65 million over the last quarter.
• Accenture recently reported earnings of $3.49 per share for the quarter, exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $17.73 billion and an annual dividend of $1.48 per share, reflecting a 2.4% yield.

Jensen Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 19.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,835,563 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 446,763 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 6.3% of Jensen Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Jensen Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.29% of Accenture worth $572,769,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Visionary Wealth Advisors grew its position in Accenture by 3.5% in 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 last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Accenture by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,981 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,863,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Sentinus LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $2.65 during trading on Friday, hitting $239.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,810,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,579,456. The company has a 50-day moving average of $291.16 and a 200-day moving average of $315.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market cap of $149.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $238.03 and a 12 month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. Argus set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. 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, June 24th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

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.