BDF Gestion Sells 2,206 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• BDF Gestion reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 9.8%, holding 20,243 shares worth $6,050,000 after selling 2,206 shares in the second quarter.
• CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares valued at approximately $635,794, representing a 21.73% decrease in her ownership.
• Accenture received mixed ratings from analysts, with price targets ranging from $240.00 to $335.00, indicating a general consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

BDF Gestion cut its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,243 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 2,206 shares during the quarter. BDF Gestion's holdings in Accenture were worth $6,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $19,912,594,000 after purchasing an additional 3,419,577 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Accenture by 63.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,953,621 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,793,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,490,569 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,766,369 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,111,378,000 after acquiring an additional 228,939 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,163,393 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,923,225,000 after acquiring an additional 126,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,129,053 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,600,470,000 after purchasing an additional 164,573 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 2.3%

ACN traded down $5.59 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $234.40. The stock had a trading volume of 3,817,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,685,149. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 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. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $256.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $288.31. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $234.10 and a 52 week high of $398.35.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ACN. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Accenture from $342.00 to $313.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Barclays reduced their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on Accenture from $290.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on Accenture from $330.00 to $270.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $329.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.