Mizuho Securities USA LLC Sells 7,860 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC reduced its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 16.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,618 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 7,860 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $14,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 8.2% in the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 11,563 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,009,000 after acquiring an additional 874 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 4,558 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,580,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 115.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. now owns 47,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $16,442,000 after acquiring an additional 25,390 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 196.5% during 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, Capital International Inc. CA bought a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,063,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $357.04 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s fifty day moving average is $356.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $328.39.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ACN. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

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.