Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Seilern Investment Management Ltd

Seilern Investment Management Ltd decreased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 24.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 214,794 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 69,320 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 4.4% of Seilern Investment Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Seilern Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Accenture were worth $67,024,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Davidson Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 28.1% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 259,159 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $90,425,000 after acquiring an additional 56,829 shares in the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $321,000. Finally, Sycomore Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 93.1% in the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 57,242 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $20,367,000 after acquiring an additional 27,596 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $317.49 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $275.01 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $303.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $337.11. The firm has a market cap of $198.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $382.14.

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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