Arcus Capital Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Arcus Capital Partners LLC decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 21.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 841 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 227 shares during the period. Arcus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. M&G PLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 34.1% in 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 during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 70.6% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,581,000 after acquiring an additional 14,724 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in Accenture by 18.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 27,168 shares during the period. Radnor Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 21.6% in the third quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 22,131 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,823,000 after purchasing an additional 3,930 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth about $19,007,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $357.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $353.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $325.80.

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

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

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.