Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ

Key Points

• Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB has reduced its holdings in Accenture PLC by 2.4%, selling 4,923 shares, resulting in a total of 202,376 shares worth approximately $63.15 million.
• Insider transactions reveal that both CEO Julie Spellman Sweet and insider Angela Beatty sold shares on July 11th, resulting in a significant decrease in their respective ownership positions.
• Accenture reported better-than-expected earnings for the last quarter, with EPS of $3.49, surpassing analysts' estimates of $3.32, while the company anticipates a fiscal EPS guidance of 12.73 for the current year.

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ lowered its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 202,376 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 4,923 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ's holdings in Accenture were worth $63,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.9% in the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 345,172 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $107,707,000 after buying an additional 2,937 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $176,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 5,523 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,723,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the period. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. now owns 3,023 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $943,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Finally, Samalin Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 1,636 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.5%

Accenture stock traded up $3.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $260.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,805,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,719,596. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.92 billion, a PE ratio of 20.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $236.67 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The stock's fifty day moving average is $272.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $301.99. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. HSBC started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price target 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 report on Monday, June 23rd. Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $358.08.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $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 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.