Capital Market Strategies LLC Sells 40 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Capital Market Strategies LLC lessened its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 40 shares during the quarter. Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $549,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Apella Capital LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 9,451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,367,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Farmers Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 10,950 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 12.9% in the third quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 7,490 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,648,000 after acquiring an additional 857 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Accenture by 6.5% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 127,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $45,104,000 after purchasing an additional 7,791 shares during the period. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 57,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,392,000 after purchasing an additional 2,157 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim raised their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $361.37 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $335.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $320.60. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $226.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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 return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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. Insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.