Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA

Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA lessened its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 67,929 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 9,255 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 1.4% of Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA's holdings in Accenture were worth $21,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 30,256.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,067,651,000 after buying an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Accenture by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $666,495,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $370.71.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN traded up $2.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $304.58. 1,616,133 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,901,159. The company has a market cap of $190.76 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.29. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $309.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $329.56. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $273.19 and a 1 year 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.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 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 business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.