Shellback Capital LP Sells 75,000 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Shellback Capital LP significantly reduced its holdings in Accenture PLC by 65.2%, selling 75,000 shares, leaving it with 40,000 shares valued at approximately $12.5 million.
• Research analysts have mixed views on Accenture, with UBS Group maintaining a "buy" rating and issuing a new target price of $395.00, while Barclays has lowered its target from $390.00 to $360.00.
• Accenture recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 2.3%, with a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Shellback Capital LP lowered its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 65.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,000 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 75,000 shares during the period. Shellback Capital LP's holdings in Accenture were worth $12,482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $19,912,594,000 after purchasing an additional 3,419,577 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 63.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,953,621 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,793,889,000 after buying an additional 3,490,569 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,766,369 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,111,378,000 after acquiring an additional 228,939 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,036,845 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,123,702,000 after acquiring an additional 545,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,129,053 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,600,470,000 after purchasing an additional 164,573 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $353.76.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were 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 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $254.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $159.45 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $236.67 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $297.37.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its 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 company's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $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 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. 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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