Palumbo Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Palumbo Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,112 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 276 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 1.0% of Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at about $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 44.7% during the second 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. grew its position in Accenture by 251.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after buying an additional 712,400 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Accenture by 196.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $342,483,000 after buying an additional 654,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after acquiring an additional 635,349 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $2.63 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $343.94. 384,233 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,716,584. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $351.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $323.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim upped their price target 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. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 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 link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,107 shares of company stock valued at $12,275,914 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.