Forum Financial Management LP Has $1.60 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Forum Financial Management LP cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,519 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 161 shares during the quarter. Forum Financial Management LP’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth about $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 251.3% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $302,165,000 after buying an additional 712,400 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Accenture by 196.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $342,483,000 after buying an additional 654,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,699,110,000 after acquiring an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on ACN shares. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. Susquehanna increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $345.67 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $352.34 and its 200-day moving average is $324.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.10 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

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

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.