Prio Wealth Limited Partnership Cuts Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Prio Wealth Limited Partnership lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,220 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 895 shares during the period. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’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 value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now 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 worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Down 0.4 %

ACN opened at $352.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $220.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $334.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $320.07. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Accenture Profile

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.