Ethic Inc. Sells 5,016 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. has reduced its holdings in Accenture PLC by 7.2%, selling 5,016 shares, which brings its total ownership to 65,048 shares valued at approximately $20.4 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their positions in Accenture, with notable increases from Kovitz Investment Group by 16.3% and Cookson Peirce & Co. by 17.3% during the same period.
• Accenture's quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting $3.49 EPS against a consensus estimate of $3.32, alongside a revenue of $17.73 billion, reflecting a year-over-year growth of 7.7%.

Ethic Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 65,048 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 5,016 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $20,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Lipe & Dalton grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2,087.4% during the 1st quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 4,801 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $321,000. United Bank acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $758,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 62.2% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $247.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,223,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,755,595. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $236.67 and a one year high of $398.35. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $283.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $310.68. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $154.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for 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%. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on ACN shares. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 in the last ninety days. 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.