Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC Sells 868 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 29.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,078 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 868 shares during the quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LVW Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.4% in the first quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 17.3% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 10,150 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,518,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.6% during the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 609,226 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $211,164,000 after buying an additional 86,848 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Accenture by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after buying an additional 21,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edmonds Duncan Registered Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.1% in the first quarter. Edmonds Duncan Registered Investment Advisors LLC now owns 600 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $208,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This 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. In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,971 shares of company stock worth $9,330,113. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $362.50 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $227.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $350.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $322.93.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 54.21%.

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

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.