Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Sells 1,344 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC trimmed its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,810 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,344 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 1.4% of Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in 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. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 214.8% during the first 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. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Wedbush lowered their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $356.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $223.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $336.64 and its 200-day moving average is $319.71. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. 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. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.