Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Whittier Trust Co.

Whittier Trust Co. cut its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 15.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 23,740 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 4,308 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after acquiring an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Accenture by 251.3% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after acquiring an additional 712,400 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Accenture by 196.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $342,483,000 after acquiring an additional 654,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after acquiring an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,566,411.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,548 shares of company stock valued at $3,936,838 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ACN opened at $376.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $235.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $346.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $321.91. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.21%.

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.