Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC Cuts Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC decreased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,428 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 569 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 1.7% of Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Accenture by 1.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,311,102,000 after purchasing an additional 131,544 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,056,000 after buying an additional 173,107 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,786,256,000 after acquiring an additional 80,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,086,000 after acquiring an additional 148,738 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at $12,390,445.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.4 %

Accenture stock traded up $1.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $361.69. 89,815 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,752,592. The stock has a market cap of $226.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $337.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $319.95.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

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.