Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Trimmed by Carlson Capital Management

Carlson Capital Management lessened its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 31,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 122 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 0.5% of Carlson Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Carlson Capital Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $11,022,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 108.0% in the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tsfg LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 22.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % 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 ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $0.22 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $361.07. 262,107 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,707,095. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $356.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $329.61. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $225.73 billion, a PE ratio of 31.61, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ACN. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

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.