Great Diamond Partners LLC Sells 1,748 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Great Diamond Partners LLC decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,013 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,748 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 0.9% of Great Diamond Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Accenture by 13.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $63,584,000 after buying an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 6,381 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,212,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,830 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,714,000 after buying an additional 876 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Accenture by 9.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 18,111 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 33,107 shares of company stock valued at $12,275,914 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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 note on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $363.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $351.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $323.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.77, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture’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 firm posted $2.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire 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 announced 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. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

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.