Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Reduces Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 8.3%, selling 18,596 shares and now owning 204,453 shares valued at approximately $63.8 million.
• CEOs Mauro Macchi and Julie Spellman Sweet sold shares on July 11th, resulting in a 17.97% and 21.73% decrease respectively in their ownership.
• Accenture reported earnings of $3.49 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates by $0.17, with a significant 7.7% increase in year-over-year revenue.

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 8.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 204,453 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 18,596 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $63,798,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. HSBC initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI began coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Argus set a $370.00 price target on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group reissued 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $358.08.

Accenture Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $258.8940 on Monday. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $236.67 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $277.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $305.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

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.

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