Independent Advisor Alliance Decreases Stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Independent Advisor Alliance has reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 17.1%, selling 5,011 shares during the 1st quarter, now holding 24,230 shares valued at $7.56 million.
• Recent analyst ratings show a mixed sentiment towards Accenture, with Guggenheim lowering its price target from $360.00 to $335.00 while UBS Group raised its target to $395.00.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with a payout ratio of 47.13%, reflecting a yield of 2.5% for shareholders.

Independent Advisor Alliance decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 17.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,230 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 5,011 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance's holdings in Accenture were worth $7,561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased 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.

Accenture Trading Up 3.3%

Accenture stock traded up $7.74 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $245.61. The company had a trading volume of 5,277,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,578,933. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $286.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $313.39. The firm has a market cap of $153.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.29. 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 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 return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

Insider Activity

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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture 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 $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Argus set a $370.00 target price on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $360.21.

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.