Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Trimmed by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 50.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 203,763 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 206,710 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Accenture were worth $72,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.0% in the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,275 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,215,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 4.5% in the first quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC now owns 926 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 5.9% in the first quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 2,377 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $821,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Accenture by 1.3% in the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,117 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,279,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 8,145 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,823,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:ACN traded down $2.68 on Thursday, reaching $367.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,103,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,715,768. The company has a market capitalization of $229.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $354.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $326.48. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

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

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 issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Ten equities research 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.