Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 18.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,254 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 4,259 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $285.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.74, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s 50-day moving average is $306.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $333.68. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $273.19 and a 1-year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 26.49%. Accenture’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. Analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Benchmark reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.00.

About Accenture

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.