Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Cut by Capital Market Strategies LLC

Capital Market Strategies LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 40 shares during the quarter. Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at $820,912,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in Accenture by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $614,615,000 after buying an additional 875,723 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 44.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after acquiring an additional 837,677 shares during the period. Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $286,220,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 251.3% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after purchasing an additional 712,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $361.37 on Friday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $335.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $320.60. The company has a market capitalization of $226.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program 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 buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

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.