Stack Financial Management Inc Reduces Stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Stack Financial Management Inc trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 138,762 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,337 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 3.6% of Stack Financial Management Inc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Stack Financial Management Inc's holdings in Accenture were worth $43,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $370.71.

Accenture Trading Up 1.3%

ACN traded up $3.65 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $279.72. 3,176,294 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,924,600. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.27, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $273.19 and a one year high of $398.35. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $307.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $325.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company 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 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Accenture's payout ratio is 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.