Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 5.2%, selling 6,474 shares and leaving them with 117,199 shares valued at approximately $36.57 million as reported in their recent 13F filing.
• During the same period, other institutional investors adjusted their positions, with Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increasing its stake by 25.1% to own 645,636 shares valued at $201.46 million.
• Accenture's latest earnings report showed EPS of $3.49, exceeding expectations, along with a revenue of $17.73 billion, marking a 7.7% year-over-year increase.

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 117,199 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 6,474 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $36,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lipe & Dalton grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2,087.4% during the first quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 5,031 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,570,000 after buying an additional 4,801 shares during the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $321,000. United Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth about $758,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $317,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $3.95 during trading on Friday, hitting $260.12. 2,805,715 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,719,596. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $272.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $301.99. The company has a market cap of $162.92 billion, a PE ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.29. 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 12-month low of $236.67 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Accenture from $334.00 to $302.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $358.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 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 value of $141,170.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Profile

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.