Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Garrison Asset Management LLC

Garrison Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,682 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 432 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 2.8% of Garrison Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Garrison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 175,375 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $61,992,000 after purchasing an additional 8,732 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Accenture by 1.0% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 249,086 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $88,047,000 after buying an additional 2,576 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 13.4% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,275,036 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $450,700,000 after buying an additional 150,358 shares during the last quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP now owns 63,679 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $22,509,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,950 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. 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. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $0.19 on Monday, hitting $345.86. The company had a trading volume of 148,037 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,716,382. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $352.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $324.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.