Integrated Advisors Network LLC Sells 220 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Integrated Advisors Network LLC reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,610 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 220 shares during the quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 57.2% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 316 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.6% in the third quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 12,169 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,301,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Accenture by 131.1% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,251 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 955,871 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $335,195,000 after buying an additional 12,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 19,001 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,921,000 after buying an additional 1,427 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America increased their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $363.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $227.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $351.54 and a 200 day moving average of $323.52. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase 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 currently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.