Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Grows Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 102.5%, owning 189,598 shares valued at approximately $59.16 million after acquiring additional shares in the first quarter.
• CEO Julie Spellman Sweet recently sold 2,251 shares of Accenture stock, representing a 21.73% decrease in her holdings, while the company has seen a total of 2,954 shares sold by insiders valued at $834,280 in the last 90 days.
• Accenture reported Q3 earnings of $3.49 per share, beating estimates, with revenue reaching $17.73 billion, reflecting a 7.7% increase year-over-year.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 102.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 189,598 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 95,979 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $59,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors 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 about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN traded up $1.97 on Wednesday, hitting $257.39. The stock had a trading volume of 2,238,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,550,587. The stock has a market cap of $161.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $275.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $304.72. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $236.67 and a 52-week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced 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. 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 revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Argus set a $370.00 price target on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho set a $348.00 price target on Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $358.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.