Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Boston Financial Mangement LLC

Boston Financial Mangement LLC decreased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,569 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 82 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $584,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 6,381 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,212,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,830 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,714,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in Accenture by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 18,111 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’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 value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’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 owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,107 shares of company stock valued at $12,275,914 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $363.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $351.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $323.52. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $227.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on ACN. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

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.