Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Court Place Advisors LLC

Court Place Advisors LLC reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,195 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 70 shares during the quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,483,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Slow Capital Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 0.6% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Tsfg LLC grew its position in Accenture by 31.1% during the second quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass More Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 700 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.1 %

Accenture stock traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $364.75. 260,427 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,713,375. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $348.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $322.52. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $228.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.35, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is 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 paid 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 yield of 1.62%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.21%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup upped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

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.