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

Capital Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,917 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 53 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,031,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Meridian Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth approximately $212,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 25,917 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 101,675 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,940,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares in the last quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $359,000. Finally, Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth $630,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $376.86 on Monday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $345.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $321.59. The company has a market cap of $236.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 3.47 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. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase 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 Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,548 shares of company stock worth $5,585,938. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

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.