NCM Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

NCM Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,294 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. NCM Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners grew its stake in Accenture by 0.7% in the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 0.6% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 7,744 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,870,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $362.39 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $358.68 and its 200-day moving average is $330.84. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $226.55 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.25.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The company 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 business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 51.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research 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 MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.