Arlington Partners LLC Trims Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Arlington Partners LLC trimmed its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,695 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,020 shares during the period. Arlington Partners LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $3,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $1.43 on Thursday, hitting $296.03. 3,631,810 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,938,888. 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 stock's 50 day moving average price is $307.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $332.55. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $273.19 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $370.71.

About Accenture

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.