SRN Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

SRN Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 27.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,017 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,310 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 1.9% of SRN Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its position in Accenture by 507.7% during 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. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total transaction of $1,866,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,566,411.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,971 shares of company stock worth $9,330,113 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of ACN opened at $360.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $226.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.04, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $350.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $322.94. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month 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 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign 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. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America upped their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.