Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 13,263 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 197,055 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 13,263 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 5.8% of Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $69,655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $362.16 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $358.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $330.46. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $226.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

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.