Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec Sells 19,024 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec reduced its holdings in Accenture PLC by 14.0%, owning 116,874 shares worth approximately $36.48 million by the end of the reporting period.
• Accenture reported quarterly earnings of $3.49 EPS, exceeding analysts' estimates of $3.32, and achieved a 7.7% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, which represents a 2.3% yield and a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec cut its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 14.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 116,874 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 19,024 shares during the quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec's holdings in Accenture were worth $36,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised 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 buying an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $317,000. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP raised its holdings in Accenture by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 4,265 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,500,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Chapman Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $926,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $7,559,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 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 value of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. HSBC started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Argus set a $370.00 target price on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 target price (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Rothschild Redb lowered Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $353.76.

Accenture Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE:ACN traded up $1.65 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $254.59. 4,235,857 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,641,824. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $236.67 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $268.80 and a 200 day moving average of $298.01. The stock has a market cap of $159.45 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

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.