ING Groep NV Trims Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• ING Groep NV has significantly reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by selling 108,417 shares, resulting in a total holding of 42,448 shares worth approximately $13.25 million.
• Accenture's CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares for $141,170, while other insiders also recorded sales, indicating a trend of insider selling within the company.
• Accenture reported strong quarterly earnings, with EPS of $3.49 exceeding analyst expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 to be paid on August 15th.

ING Groep NV reduced its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 71.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,448 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 108,417 shares during the period. ING Groep NV's holdings in Accenture were worth $13,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $5.72 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $241.82. The stock had a trading volume of 7,245,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,477,017. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $292.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $316.70. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $239.82 and a one year high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $151.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 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 (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. HSBC began coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays decreased their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Accenture Company 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.