Accenture PLC $ACN Stock Position Trimmed by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

Key Points

• BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S has reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 8.8%, now holding 38,434 shares valued at approximately $11.99 million.
• Accenture reported a strong quarterly performance, with earnings per share of $3.49, surpassing analysts' expectations, and revenue of $17.73 billion, a 7.7% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.3%, with a payout ratio currently at 47.13%.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S cut its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 8.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,434 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 3,725 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Accenture were worth $11,993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $19,912,594,000 after buying an additional 3,419,577 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Accenture by 30,256.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,067,651,000 after buying an additional 3,410,248 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 2,782.1% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,445,281 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $450,985,000 after buying an additional 1,395,135 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Accenture by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,667,393,000 after buying an additional 732,769 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $225,217,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on shares of Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $358.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.9%

ACN stock traded up $4.9040 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $258.8940. 3,102,553 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,885,374. The company has a market capitalization of $162.15 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $236.67 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $277.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $307.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share 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 net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Accenture 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.