USS Investment Management Ltd Sells 8,740 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

USS Investment Management Ltd lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 761,856 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 8,740 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 1.9% of USS Investment Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. USS Investment Management Ltd owned about 0.12% of Accenture worth $268,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 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 worth $21,246,236,000 after acquiring an additional 392,183 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 1.0% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 136,665 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in Accenture by 2.2% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 181,449 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of ACN opened at $319.16 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $275.01 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The business's fifty day moving average is $302.50 and its 200-day moving average is $340.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $199.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.77 EPS. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on ACN. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group cut their price objective on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho cut their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Seven research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $381.76.

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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