Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Dearborn Partners LLC

Key Points

• Dearborn Partners LLC reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 18.6% during the first quarter, holding 88,479 shares worth approximately $27.6 million.
• Insider sales by CEO Julie Spellman Sweet and another executive resulted in a total sale of 5,454 shares, amounting to approximately $1.65 million, indicating a decrease in their ownership of the company's stock.
• Accenture recently reported earnings of $3.49 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.16%.

Dearborn Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 18.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 88,479 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 20,183 shares during the quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $27,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6,335.5% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,964 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 14,028 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,935,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares during the period. Cannell & Spears LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 44.2% in the fourth quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC now owns 3,346 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $4.83 on Wednesday, reaching $274.07. The stock had a trading volume of 4,270,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,295,311. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $272.39 and a twelve 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $300.06 and a 200 day moving average of $320.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.66 billion, a PE ratio of 21.82, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. HSBC initiated coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

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.