USS Investment Management Ltd Trims Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• USS Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 3.5%, holding 735,341 shares after selling 26,515 shares in the first quarter, with Accenture comprising about 1.7% of its portfolio.
• Accenture's CEO, Mauro Macchi, sold 500 shares at an average price of $282.34, reducing his stake by 17.97% to 2,283 shares valued at approximately $644,582.
• Accenture recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 2.3% with a dividend payout ratio of 47.13%.

USS Investment Management Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 735,341 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 26,515 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 1.7% of USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. USS Investment Management Ltd owned 0.12% of Accenture worth $229,584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,582.22. This represents a 17.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE ACN opened at $254.59 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $236.67 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $268.80 and a 200-day moving average of $297.37. The firm has a market cap 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 (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 company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%.Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. Accenture has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 12.770-12.890 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on Accenture and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. HSBC initiated coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. One 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $353.76.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ACN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.