Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 19.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,402 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,875 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,798,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 267.9% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,971 shares of company stock worth $9,330,113. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $364.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $228.24 billion, a PE ratio of 33.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $348.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $322.52.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 54.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna lifted 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. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

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.