Wrapmanager Inc. Lowers Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Wrapmanager Inc. decreased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 10.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,865 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 813 shares during the quarter. Wrapmanager Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,427,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its holdings in Accenture by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 2,097 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $727,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 30.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 68,695 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $23,810,000 after purchasing an additional 16,093 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Investment Managers International grew its position in shares of Accenture by 6.2% in the first quarter. Natixis Investment Managers International now owns 103,465 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,862,000 after purchasing an additional 6,020 shares in the last quarter. Ossiam grew its position in Accenture by 3.0% in the first quarter. Ossiam now owns 15,203 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,270,000 after acquiring an additional 443 shares during the period. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the first quarter worth approximately $145,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $352.79 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $220.55 billion, a PE ratio of 30.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $355.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $327.83.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

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.