MCF Advisors LLC Sells 37 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

MCF Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 819 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 37 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 607.1% during 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. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 108.0% in the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $3.43 on Friday, hitting $360.80. 2,129,390 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,722,404. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $350.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $323.02. The firm has a market cap of $226.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 usually a sign that the company’s leadership 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.