Wealthspire Advisors LLC Sells 6,710 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Wealthspire Advisors LLC has reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 7.7%, now holding 80,275 shares valued at approximately $25 million.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, representing a 2.3% yield, with the ex-dividend date set for July 10th.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Accenture, with 15 suggesting a buy rating and at least one recommending a sell, while the average price target is set at $360.21.

Wealthspire Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,275 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 6,710 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $25,049,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 30,256.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,067,651,000 after buying an additional 3,410,248 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2,782.1% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,445,281 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $450,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,395,135 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,667,393,000 after purchasing an additional 732,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $225,217,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 2.3%

NYSE:ACN traded down $5.72 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $241.82. 7,245,426 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,477,017. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $239.82 and a one year high of $398.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $292.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $316.70. The company has a market cap of $151.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. Equities 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Finally, HSBC started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.