Great Diamond Partners LLC Lowers Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Great Diamond Partners LLC decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 14.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,013 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,748 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 0.9% of Great Diamond Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Accenture by 13.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $63,584,000 after acquiring an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 8.6% during the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $584,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Accenture by 0.9% in the first quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 6,381 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,212,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,830 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,714,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Accenture by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 18,111 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

ACN stock opened at $363.15 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $351.54 and its 200-day moving average is $323.52. The company has a market cap of $227.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.77, 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’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 value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,500,430.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 33,107 shares of company stock valued at $12,275,914. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

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.