Strategy Asset Managers LLC Sells 583 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Strategy Asset Managers LLC cut its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,267 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 583 shares during the quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Accenture in the first quarter valued at approximately $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 44.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after buying an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Accenture by 251.3% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after acquiring an additional 712,400 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Accenture by 196.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $342,483,000 after acquiring an additional 654,807 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 37,788.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $180,401,000 after purchasing an additional 509,011 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted 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. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $353.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $221.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.25. 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 $355.89 and its 200 day moving average is $328.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The company 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 believes its stock is undervalued.

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.