Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Professional Advisory Services Inc.

Professional Advisory Services Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,538 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 4,179 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 2.9% of Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $21,297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 78.6% during the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after buying an additional 5,038 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 70.6% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,581,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 34.1% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $103,361,000 after purchasing an additional 74,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in Accenture by 18.7% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock valued at $9,570,260. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.04.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

Accenture stock opened at $352.33 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $357.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $345.02. The firm has a market cap of $220.48 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

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.