Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Main Street Financial Solutions LLC

Main Street Financial Solutions LLC cut its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,389 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 270 shares during the quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $844,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 108.0% during the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Tsfg LLC raised its position in Accenture by 31.1% in the second quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Up 2.7 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $370.34 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $354.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $326.17. The company has a market cap of $231.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 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 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

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 buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, 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 value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.