Trillium Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Trillium Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 9.4%, owning 77,494 shares worth $24.18 million after selling 8,062 shares in the first quarter.
• CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture at an average price of $282.45, resulting in a 21.73% decrease in her position.
• Accenture announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 2.5%, with a payout ratio of 47.13%.

Trillium Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 77,494 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 8,062 shares during the period. Trillium Asset Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $24,182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of Accenture 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $0.88 on Friday, reaching $247.04. The company had a trading volume of 4,223,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,754,784. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $154.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.29. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $283.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $311.61. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $236.67 and a 12 month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Accenture 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.