Advisors Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 20.1%, acquiring an additional 9,165 shares to bring its total to 54,705 shares, valued at approximately $17 million.
• Accenture reported $3.49 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analyst estimates of $3.32, with quarterly revenue rising 7.7% year-over-year.
• The company's most recent quarterly dividend was $1.48 per share, yielding around 2.3% annually, as part of a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 20.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,705 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 9,165 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $17,070,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Visionary Wealth Advisors increased its position in Accenture by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP increased its position in Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Sentinus LLC increased its position in Accenture by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 1,103 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Viawealth LLC increased its position in Accenture by 2.6% during the first quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 1,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total value of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $1.65 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $254.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,235,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,641,824. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $268.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $297.37. 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 PLC has a 1 year low of $236.67 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ACN. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday. Rothschild Redb lowered shares of Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $353.76.

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.