Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Insider Angela Beatty Sells 375 Shares

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Angela Beatty also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, October 22nd, Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $358.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $360.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $337.82. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $224.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.74 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 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 49.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on ACN shares. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.23.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Accenture

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.7% in the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Slow Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.