Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 31.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 158,571 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 71,802 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $48,112,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in Accenture by 18.7% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after acquiring an additional 27,168 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its stake in Accenture by 11.9% during the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Platform Technology Partners grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 1,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 13.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $63,584,000 after acquiring an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at $19,007,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America upped their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $364.64.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $349.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $333.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $320.81.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

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

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 given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Accenture 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.