Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. has reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 8.6%, owning approximately 2.47 million shares valued at $772 million after selling 233,896 shares in the first quarter.
• Accenture has reported strong quarterly earnings, with $3.49 earnings per share, surpassing estimates and showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 7.7%.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 2.3% with a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 8.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,474,371 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 233,896 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.40% of Accenture worth $772,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $317,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Accenture by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 76,553 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $26,931,000 after buying an additional 1,004 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Accenture by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 107,466 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $37,806,000 after buying an additional 5,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,179,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of ACN traded down $0.45 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $254.50. 1,730,219 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,535,547. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $236.67 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $296.75. The firm has a market cap of $159.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.30. 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 released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. HSBC started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $353.76.

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.