StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. Has $212,000 Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. cut its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 35.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 600 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 335 shares during the period. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Accenture by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $63,584,000 after acquiring an additional 21,516 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth about $19,007,000. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 27.8% during the 1st quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 65,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $22,778,000 after acquiring an additional 14,283 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $360.38 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $337.87 and a 200-day moving average of $319.95. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $225.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.00, a P/E/G 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.