Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Mizuho Securities USA LLC

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lowered its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 16.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,618 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 7,860 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $14,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at $26,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 108.0% in the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tsfg LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $357.04 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $356.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $328.39. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $223.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 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 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 net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

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.