Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 317,225 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 10,116 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned about 0.05% of Accenture worth $98,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 30,256.8% in 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 last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,667,393,000 after buying an additional 732,769 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Down 2.5%

ACN traded down $7.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $281.01. The stock had a trading volume of 5,060,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,924,951. The company has a market capitalization of $176.00 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $273.19 and a twelve month high of $398.35. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $309.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $327.92.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The firm 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%. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $370.71.

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.