Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 197,173 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 19,429 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $69,697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Accenture in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Tsfg LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 267.9% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 108.0% in the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $8,282,341 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays raised 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, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $376.86 on Friday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $236.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s fifty day moving average is $345.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $321.67.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 54.21%.

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.