Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Independent Advisor Alliance

Independent Advisor Alliance lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,576 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its position in Accenture by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 7,744 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,870,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $358.66 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $356.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $329.23. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $224.22 billion, a PE ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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 1.65%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,412,909.16. This trade represents a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho lifted their price objective 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. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

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.