Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Foundations Investment Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Foundations Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 97.0% during Q1, owning just 2,064 shares after selling 66,180 shares, with total holdings valued at $644,000.
• Accenture reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $3.49, exceeding analysts' expectations of $3.32, and had a year-over-year revenue increase of 7.7%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.2%, with a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 97.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,064 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 66,180 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $644,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Visionary Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,981 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,863,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Sentinus LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,904 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,022,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $11.68 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $247.10. 6,288,538 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,421,600. 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 moving average price of $296.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $318.45. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $247.56 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $154.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued 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 is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. HSBC started coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $360.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.