Perkins Coie Trust Co Trims Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Perkins Coie Trust Co lowered its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 31.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,233 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 5,189 shares during the quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $820,912,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in Accenture by 100.0% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 875,723 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after acquiring an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Accenture by 251.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 712,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Accenture by 196.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $342,483,000 after acquiring an additional 654,807 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s 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 in the company, valued at $12,390,445.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Wedbush cut their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:ACN traded up $1.31 on Wednesday, reaching $361.69. The stock had a trading volume of 89,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,752,592. The company has a 50-day moving average of $337.87 and a 200 day moving average of $319.95. The stock has a market cap of $226.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict 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 allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding 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 usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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 dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.21%.

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.