Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Aspiriant LLC

Aspiriant LLC trimmed its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,936 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 58 shares during the quarter. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 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 acquiring an additional 136,665 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Accenture by 16.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Accenture by 22.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 181,449 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE ACN opened at $312.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $306.40 and a 200-day moving average of $334.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $275.01 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 26.49%. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Baird R W raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $380.00.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last three months. Company 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.