Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Heartland Bank & Trust Co

Heartland Bank & Trust Co lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 43.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 823 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 631 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Up 1.0 %

ACN stock opened at $353.33 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $334.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $320.23. The company has a market capitalization of $221.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

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.