Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 25.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,705 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,629 shares during the quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $1,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $21,246,236,000 after purchasing an additional 392,183 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,750,021,000 after buying an additional 136,665 shares during the last quarter. 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,994,922,000 after acquiring an additional 181,449 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Accenture Trading Up 1.1%
Shares of Accenture stock traded up $3.05 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $282.72. 3,512,878 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,926,945. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.29. 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 PLC has a 52-week low of $273.19 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $307.35 and a 200-day moving average of $325.69.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.13%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture
In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
ACN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday. They issued a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $365.43.
Get Our Latest Analysis on ACN
Accenture Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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