Redwood Investments LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Redwood Investments LLC increased its stake in Accenture PLC by 6.2% in the first quarter, now owning 22,087 shares valued at approximately $6.89 million.
• CEO Mauro Macchi and CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold shares in July, reducing their holdings by 17.97% and 21.73% respectively, amidst a backdrop of insider sales totaling 2,954 shares over three months.
• Wall Street analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Accenture, with a price target averaging $353.76, while analysts have set their forecasts for Accenture’s earnings per share at approximately $12.73 for the current year.

Redwood Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,087 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,287 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 2.6% of Redwood Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Redwood Investments LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $6,892,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $635,794.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Mizuho set a $348.00 target price on shares of Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Rothschild Redb lowered shares of Accenture from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. HSBC began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $353.76.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:ACN opened at $254.59 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $268.80 and a 200 day moving average of $296.75. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $236.67 and a 52 week high of $398.35. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $159.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.30.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

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.

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