Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 23.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 687,481 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 206,746 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 0.7% of KBC Group NV’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Accenture were worth $243,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 333,221 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $117,787,000 after acquiring an additional 3,959 shares in the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 60.0% in the third quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 6,573 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,323,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth about $6,467,000. Cable Hill Partners LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 65.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 1,549 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $548,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 700.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 160 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $370.34 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $354.32 and a 200-day moving average of $326.17. The company has a market cap of $231.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho raised their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.