Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC Sells 327 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,341 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 327 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 1.6% of Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Canopy Partners LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.4% in the third quarter. Canopy Partners LLC now owns 2,952 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,787 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,813,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 304,101 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $107,493,000 after acquiring an additional 31,707 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 35,048 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 11.8% in the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 0.7 %

Accenture stock opened at $358.66 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $356.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $328.98. The company has a market capitalization of $224.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program 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 buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho upped their price target on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.