Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Has $70.98 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Westwood Holdings Group Inc. has reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 3.3%, owning 227,477 shares valued at approximately $70.98 million after selling 7,765 shares in the first quarter.
• Accenture reported earnings of $3.49 per share for the recent quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenues reaching $17.73 billion.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend of $5.92 and a yield of 2.4%.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 227,477 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 7,765 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $70,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Accenture by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,286,005 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $804,194,000 after purchasing an additional 43,217 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $317,000. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC grew its position in Accenture by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC now owns 40,585 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,277,000 after buying an additional 18,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC now owns 19,742 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,945,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 4.6%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $246.75 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $295.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $317.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $245.74 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. HSBC assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,290,387.05. The trade was a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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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