Stephens Inc. AR Has $7.43 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Stephens Inc. AR decreased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,017 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,087 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,429,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth approximately $51,000. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth approximately $347,000. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the third quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,824 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,472,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 9.3% during the third quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 4,012 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,418,000 after buying an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.4% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 308,236 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $108,955,000 after buying an additional 1,118 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $345.67 on Friday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company’s fifty day moving average is $352.34 and its 200-day moving average is $324.05. The stock has a market cap of $216.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors 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 1.71%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price target 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given 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 price target of $368.23.

About Accenture

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.