Valmark Advisers Inc. Cuts Stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Valmark Advisers Inc. lessened its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 23.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,766 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 4,105 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $21,246,236,000 after buying an additional 392,183 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 136,665 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 22.8% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 181,449 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Benchmark reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $372.00 to $340.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.00.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $285.66 on Monday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $306.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $333.51. The stock has a market cap of $178.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $273.19 and a one year high of $398.35.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The business had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

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.

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