Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Cigna Investments Inc. New

Cigna Investments Inc. New lessened its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,467 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 99 shares during the quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in Accenture by 1.2% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 28,991 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,048,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 31.3% in the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 6,367 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,517 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 107,413 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $37,230,000 after acquiring an additional 1,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,198 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,228,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,107 shares of company stock valued at $12,275,914. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Accenture Trading Down 0.5 %

ACN stock opened at $344.92 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $352.09 and its 200 day moving average is $323.82. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $215.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its 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 company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. 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 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

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.