Accenture PLC $ACN Stock Position Cut by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Accenture PLC by 61.7%, owning 18,137 shares worth approximately $5.66 million after selling 29,270 shares in the 1st quarter.
• Accenture has received mixed ratings from analysts, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $348.12.
• Insider selling saw significant transactions, including CEO Julie Spellman Sweet selling 2,251 shares valued at around $635,795.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 61.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,137 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 29,270 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $5,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn downgraded shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $250.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $290.00 to $260.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Rothschild Redb downgraded shares of Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $346.92.

Accenture Trading Down 2.3%

ACN traded down $5.60 during trading on Friday, hitting $238.55. 5,636,222 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,573,657. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $236.67 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $263.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $293.64. The firm has a market cap of $149.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS 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 analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. The trade was a 17.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.