HighTower Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Accenture PLC by 2.9%, now owning 604,793 shares valued at approximately $188.7 million following the sale of nearly 18,000 shares in the first quarter.
• Accenture's CEO, Julie Spellman Sweet, sold over 2,200 shares at about $282 per share, marking a 21.73% decrease in her ownership position.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, yielding approximately 2.5%, with the payment slated for August 15th.

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 604,793 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 17,972 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Accenture worth $188,720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Visionary Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Sentinus LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 1,103 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $247.04. The company had a trading volume of 4,223,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,754,784. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $236.67 and a one year high of $398.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $283.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $311.61. 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 $154.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on ACN. HSBC began coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Argus set a $370.00 target price on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus 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.