University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. Sells 2,801 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 63.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,645 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,801 shares during the quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,013,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 10.2% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Tsfg LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 31.1% in the second quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 4.5% during the second quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Eight research 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, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of ACN opened at $352.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $334.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $320.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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%. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. Analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

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 issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase 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 (DPR) is currently 47.25%.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Company 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.