Quantbot Technologies LP Has $6.58 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Quantbot Technologies LP lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,624 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,583,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 108.0% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $361.29 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $356.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $329.61. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $225.86 billion, a PE ratio of 31.61, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter last year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is a boost 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 is 51.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho upped their price target on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

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.