Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by First Foundation Advisors

Key Points

• First Foundation Advisors has reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 13.8%, selling 5,300 shares, leaving it with 33,036 shares valued at approximately $10.3 million.
• Accenture reported earnings of $3.49 per share in its latest quarter, exceeding estimates, with revenues of $17.73 billion marking a 7.7% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, yielding 2.14% annually, with a payout ratio of 47.13%.

First Foundation Advisors lowered its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 13.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,036 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 5,300 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors' holdings in Accenture were worth $10,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE:ACN traded down $4.83 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $274.07. 4,270,498 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,295,311. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm's fifty day moving average is $300.93 and its 200-day moving average is $321.07. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $272.39 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Argus set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Guggenheim reduced their target price 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. HSBC began coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. One equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $360.21.

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.