Troy Asset Management Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Troy Asset Management Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,442 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 11,373 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 0.9% of Troy Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Troy Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $28,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,308 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $1,776,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 17,892 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,278,000 after acquiring an additional 2,903 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 11,444 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,016,000 after acquiring an additional 3,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 53,155 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $18,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Wedbush cut their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $353.33 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $334.35 and its 200 day moving average is $320.23. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.