Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Praxis Investment Management Inc.

Praxis Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 13.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,629 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 3,410 shares during the quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 6.8%

NYSE:ACN traded down $20.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $285.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,638,670 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,930,074. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $273.19 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $306.98 and a 200-day moving average of $333.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

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.