Venture Visionary Partners LLC Sells 411 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Venture Visionary Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,686 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 411 shares during the period. Venture Visionary Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 267.9% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,548 shares of company stock worth $5,585,938 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $376.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,784,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,734,698. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $235.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $345.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $321.59.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.21%.

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.