We recently compiled a list of the 10 Large-Cap Stocks Insiders Are Selling Recently. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) stands against the other large-cap stocks. We previously covered 10 Large-Cap Stocks Insiders Are Buying Recently.
Why should investors track insider moves? Is it a bad sign for the company when insiders sell their shares? Not necessarily; just like insider buying activity doesn’t always mean the stock is heading for growth. Both insider selling and buying can be driven by various motives, it’s important to consider these moves within the broader context of the company’s fundamentals, industry trends, and overall market conditions.
However, insiders or people in high positions within a company—such as executives and directors, often have precious insights into the company’s strategy, plans, next moves and initiatives. Sometimes, for example, when a CEO or CFO invests their own money to acquire company shares, it can signal strong confidence in the company’s potential.
Similarly, when insiders are selling their shares, it can sometimes mean that the management is losing confidence. On the other hand, it also happens that large shareholders just want to trim their holdings to more appropriate position sizes based on the risk/reward. Insiders can also decide to sell their shares due to personal financial reasons that have nothing to do with the company.
This means that both insider selling and buying can be driven by various motives, and therefore, any insider trading activity should be carefully analyzed only with other factors. That’s why due diligence before any investment is of the utmost importance. However, insider trading activity in combination with other relevant determinants can offer valuable insights into a company’s capabilities, helping investors make more informed investment decisions.
To identify the 10 large-cap stocks insiders are selling recently, we considered only stocks with a market capitalization of more than $10 billion. We first used Insider Monkey’s insider trading stock screener and looked for stocks with at least two insiders selling over the last two months.
With each stock we note the number of recent insider sales and the company’s current market capitalization. But why is it important to follow insider activity? Our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds, focusing on insider trading and stock picks from hedge fund investor newsletters and conferences. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here)
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Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)
Number of Insiders Selling: 8
Market Capitalization: $242.273B
This global professional services company providing information technology (IT) services and management consulting is ninth on this list of 10 large-cap stocks insiders are selling recently. Accenture, a Fortune Global 500 company, offers a plethora of solutions across cloud, security, systems integration, software engineering services, data and AI, and automation. The Dublin, Ireland-headquartered company also provides industry-specific services such as banking, insurance and those required in health sectors. The company covers a multitude of industries and operates across the world.
Over the last two months, eight insiders, including the CEO, CFO, and COO, sold a total of $5.66 million worth of Accenture shares at an average price of $356.56 per share. The stock is currently trading at $390.01 per share, having gained 10.86% year-to-date.
For the first quarter of fiscal 2025, Accenture disclosed revenues of $17.7 billion, up by 9% from the same period of fiscal 2024. GAAP net income for the quarter was $2.32 billion, compared with $2.01 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Operating cash flow for the quarter was $1.02 billion, which compares to $499 million in the comparable quarter of the prior year.
On January, 31 Morgan Stanley raised Accenture’s target price to $380 from $335 while keeping an “Equal Weight” stock rating. Furthermore, data from StockAnalyis reveals the consensus among 20 analysts is a “Buy” rating, with a 12-month price target of $388.85.
In February, the company confirmed that Repsol, a global energy company, is extending its co-innovation collaboration to expand its Digital Program and boost the use of generative AI (gen AI) across the company. Per the announcement, Repsol will lead its digitalization and AI push through the deployment of AI agent systems. The agentification will be supported partly by the Accenture AI Refinery platform and the NVIDIA AI platform, including NVIDIA accelerated computing and NVIDIA AI Enterprise software.
Also in February, Accenture announced it will collaborate with Google Cloud to accelerate the adoption of cloud solutions and generative AI capabilities within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to address local data, operational and software sovereignty needs.
Over the last 12 months, the company’s shares gained 6.15%.
Overall ACN ranks 9th on our list of the large-cap stocks insiders are selling recently. While we acknowledge the potential of ACN as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ACN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
