Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Regal Investment Advisors LLC

Regal Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,205 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Regal Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $366,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $356.31 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $335.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $320.32. The firm has a market cap of $223.30 billion, a PE ratio of 32.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a share 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Susquehanna raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently 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.