Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by GM Advisory Group LLC

GM Advisory Group LLC cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 38.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,279 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,433 shares during the quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised 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 valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $360.41 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $225.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.53, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $356.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $328.61.

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, 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 40.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

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.