Generation Investment Management LLP Lowers Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Generation Investment Management LLP reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 47.2%, selling 1,175,159 shares and holding around 1.31 million shares thereafter, which is valued at approximately $410 million.
• Several institutional investors have recently adjusted their positions in Accenture, including Lipe & Dalton, which increased its holdings by over 2,000%, while overall institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.
• Accenture reported earnings of $3.49 per share for the most recent quarter, surpassing estimates, with a revenue increase of 7.7% year-over-year, and the company recently paid a quarterly dividend of $1.48.

Generation Investment Management LLP reduced its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 47.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,314,942 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,175,159 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 2.5% of Generation Investment Management LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Generation Investment Management LLP owned approximately 0.21% of Accenture worth $410,315,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA bought a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $1.65 during trading on Friday, reaching $254.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,235,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,641,824. The company has a market cap of $159.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.27, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.29. The firm's 50-day moving average is $268.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $298.01. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $236.67 and a 52-week 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.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. The company's quarterly 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, sell-side 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 was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was 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 owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. HSBC started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $353.76.

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.