Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Sells 5,001 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 402,410 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 5,001 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. owned about 0.06% of Accenture worth $142,238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

ACN opened at $362.16 on Friday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $358.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $330.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.69, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total transaction of $1,866,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,566,411.32. This represents a 22.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.