Appleton Partners Inc. MA Trims Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 75.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,252 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 9,745 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $116,954,000. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 50,073 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,571,000 after buying an additional 1,745 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 105.6% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 3,387 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,191,000 after acquiring an additional 1,740 shares in the last quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 975 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $2,218,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $361.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $226.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50-day moving average is $335.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $320.60. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be 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 is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

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.