Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V.

Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. cut its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 28.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 76,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 30,956 shares during the period. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $23,923,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,814,234 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $19,912,594,000 after buying an additional 3,419,577 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Accenture by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,667,393,000 after acquiring an additional 732,769 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,766,369 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,111,378,000 after acquiring an additional 228,939 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,036,845 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,123,702,000 after acquiring an additional 545,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,129,053 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,600,470,000 after purchasing an additional 164,573 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $249.11 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $282.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $309.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $156.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.83, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $236.67 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Argus set a $370.00 target price on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. HSBC assumed coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a “reduce” rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays cut their price target 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, Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $360.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This trade represents a 21.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,954 shares of company stock valued at $834,280. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.