Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC

Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 674 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 126 shares during the quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $238,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the second quarter worth $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Accenture in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 267.9% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $376.86 on Friday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $345.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $321.77. The stock has a market cap of $236.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $8,282,341 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Accenture Company 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.