Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Allianz SE

Key Points

• Allianz SE has sold 2,254 shares of Accenture PLC, reducing its position by 6.2%, leaving it with 33,840 shares valued at approximately $10.56 million.
• Recent analyst ratings show a mix of outlooks for Accenture, with 15 buy ratings and a current average price target of $360.21.
• Accenture has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48, which will be paid on August 15th, representing an annual yield of 2.3%.

Allianz SE reduced its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,840 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 2,254 shares during the period. Allianz SE's holdings in Accenture were worth $10,559,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Lipe & Dalton increased its holdings in Accenture by 2,087.4% in the first quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,570,000 after buying an additional 4,801 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $321,000. United Bank purchased a new position in Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $758,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Argus set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $255.18 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average is $297.98 and its 200-day moving average is $319.33. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $254.20 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $159.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29. 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 (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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 given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.13%.

Accenture 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.

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