Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Has $15.51 Million Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 124.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,694 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 27,594 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $15,506,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have 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 4th 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 increased its stake 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 period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position 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 worth $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,994,922,000 after acquiring an additional 181,449 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $0.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $295.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,159,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,943,751. The stock's 50-day moving average is $307.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $332.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.93 billion, a PE ratio of 23.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $273.19 and a one year high of $398.35.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Argus set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays cut 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $370.71.

About Accenture

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.