APG Asset Management N.V. Sells 44,714 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• APG Asset Management N.V. reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 8.1%, selling 44,714 shares, and now holds approximately 0.08% of Accenture worth $147.27 million.
• Several hedge funds have increased their positions in Accenture, with Lipe & Dalton raising their stake by a staggering 2,087.4% during the first quarter.
• Accenture recently reported earnings of $3.49 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48, with a yield of 2.3%.

APG Asset Management N.V. lowered its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 8.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 509,819 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 44,714 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. owned about 0.08% of Accenture worth $147,273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 415,214 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $129,563,000 after acquiring an additional 11,209 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 102.5% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 189,598 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $59,162,000 after acquiring an additional 95,979 shares in the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 183.2% in the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 185,292 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $53,971,000 after buying an additional 119,859 shares during the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 289,507 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $90,338,000 after buying an additional 19,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sax Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at $1,015,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.8%

ACN traded up $1.97 on Wednesday, hitting $257.39. The company had a trading volume of 2,238,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,549,882. The company has a market cap of $161.21 billion, a PE ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $236.67 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $275.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $304.72.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The company 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%.The firm's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter 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. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade 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. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $358.08.

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.