Dover Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Dover Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,463 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 349 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 1.1% of Dover Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Dover Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC grew its position in Accenture by 267.9% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE ACN traded up $4.06 on Tuesday, reaching $368.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,954,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,750,996. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $231.04 billion, a PE ratio of 33.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $340.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.62.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding 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 often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.21%.

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.