International Assets Investment Management LLC Sells 508,913 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 99.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,445 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 508,913 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 2.2 %

Accenture stock opened at $349.93 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $357.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $343.77. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $218.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. 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, September 30th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.04.

About Accenture

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.