Short Interest in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Drops By 6.9%

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,760,000 shares, a decrease of 6.9% from the October 15th total of 6,190,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Up 0.6 %

Accenture stock opened at $355.79 on Monday. Accenture has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $355.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $327.46. The stock has a market cap of $222.43 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter valued at $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 607.1% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

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.