Apollon Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,218 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 117 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.9% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 9,688 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,425,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 19.8% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,197 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,837,000 after acquiring an additional 859 shares in the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 17.6% in the third quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 3,122 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 75.8% in the third quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 5,240 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after buying an additional 2,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $104,924,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

ACN stock opened at $357.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $353.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $325.46. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $223.37 billion, a PE ratio of 31.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock 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 typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.