AMF Tjanstepension AB Cuts Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

AMF Tjanstepension AB lowered its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 84.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,071 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 161,296 shares during the quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,945,673,000 after purchasing an additional 184,541 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,479,430 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,975,517,000 after purchasing an additional 159,696 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,061,490,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,466,684 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,556,676,000 after purchasing an additional 68,635 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $303.58 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $300.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $336.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.62 billion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ACN. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.74.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.