MFA Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 373 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 36 shares during the quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $132,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Slow Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.6% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 31.1% during the second quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 4.5% during the second quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass More Asset Management grew its position in Accenture by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 700 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,221 shares of company stock worth $7,572,755 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of ACN opened at $370.63 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $348.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $322.52. The stock has a market cap of $232.27 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.