Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 197,055 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 13,263 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 5.8% of Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $69,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Isthmus Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 34,239 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,103,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 94.3% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 12,855 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,495,000 after acquiring an additional 6,238 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 11.7% in the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 34,497 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,194,000 after acquiring an additional 3,602 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 378.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,941,219,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Accenture by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 27,296 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,649,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.3 %

Accenture stock opened at $362.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $226.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $358.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $330.46. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month 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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America upped 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. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was 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 owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.