Prosperity Consulting Group LLC Reduces Stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Prosperity Consulting Group LLC reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 21.9%, holding $1.43 million worth of the company’s stock after selling 1,290 shares.
• Insider trading activity saw Angela Beatty and CEO Mauro Macchi selling shares, decreasing their positions by 3.72% and 17.97%, respectively.
• Accenture declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48, with a dividend yield of 2.12%, to be paid on August 15th to shareholders of record.

Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lessened its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 21.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,592 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,290 shares during the quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $1,433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $4.83 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $274.07. The stock had a trading volume of 4,270,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,374,433. The firm has a market cap of $171.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $272.39 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $300.93 and a 200-day moving average of $321.07.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. HSBC initiated coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. One investment 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 MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the firm'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 $141,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were 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 directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.