Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Swedbank AB

Key Points

• Swedbank AB has reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 22.5%, holding approximately $910.27 million worth of the company's shares, which now represent around 1.2% of its investment portfolio.
• Several institutional investors have increased their positions in Accenture, with Lipe & Dalton growing its stake by 2,087.4% and Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raising its holdings by 62.2% during the first quarter.
• Analyst ratings for Accenture vary, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $346.92, while some analysts have recently adjusted their price targets and ratings following the company's latest earnings report.

Swedbank AB trimmed its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 22.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,917,154 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 846,536 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 1.2% of Swedbank AB's holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Swedbank AB owned about 0.47% of Accenture worth $910,269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA bought a new stake in Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HSBC began coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price target for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Accenture from $342.00 to $313.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. One equities research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $346.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock worth $834,280 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $5.60 on Friday, hitting $238.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,636,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,644,348. The company has a market capitalization of $149.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $236.67 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The stock's 50-day moving average is $263.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $292.74.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

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.