Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. Trims Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 69.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,619 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 56,500 shares during the quarter. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp increased its holdings in Accenture by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 2,526 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $889,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC raised its position in Accenture by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 1,713 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $350,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 10,920 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,841,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $1.43 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $296.03. The stock had a trading volume of 3,631,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,938,888. The company has a market cap of $185.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.57, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business's 50 day moving average is $307.51 and its 200-day moving average is $332.55. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $273.19 and a 52 week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut 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 note on Monday. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $370.71.

About Accenture

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.