Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,260,000 shares, a decrease of 9.5% from the August 31st total of 6,920,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,730,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Accenture Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:ACN traded down $1.50 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $351.98. 1,811,018 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,775,479. The firm has a market cap of $220.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $334.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.23. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

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 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Accenture will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

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.