Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 18.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 776,909 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 175,804 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Accenture were worth $274,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $256,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 31.4% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 11,570 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,010,000 after purchasing an additional 2,768 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 108.0% during the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the first quarter valued at $1,784,000. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Accenture by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 13,130 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,551,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.7 %

Accenture stock opened at $361.29 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $356.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $329.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.61, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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 51.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Guggenheim upped their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

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.