Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Prosperity Financial Group Inc.

Prosperity Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,000 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 455 shares during the period. Prosperity Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Creekmur Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 108.0% during the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tsfg LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 31.1% during the second quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.7 %

ACN stock opened at $358.66 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $224.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $356.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $329.23. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

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

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding 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 programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ACN. UBS Group raised their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

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.