Accenture (NYSE:ACN) CEO Sells $863,026.08 in Stock

Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $179.96 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $196.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $235.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $173.65 and a 1-year high of $325.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.74, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $313.00 target price for the company. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ACN. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 132.6% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, McMillan Office Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company 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.