Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Groupe la Francaise

Groupe la Francaise trimmed its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 31,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 6,674 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McMillan Office Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 134.8% in the 1st quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 155 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on ACN shares. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Evercore set a $180.00 price objective on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.19.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $186.53 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.29. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $118.15 and a 52-week high of $291.09. The company has a market cap of $124.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.90, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.49 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.86 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 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were given a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total transaction of $1,710,964.04. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. The trade was a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.