Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 136,474 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,217 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Accenture were worth $48,241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,920,000. Castellan Group lifted its holdings in Accenture by 4.1% in the third quarter. Castellan Group now owns 8,165 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,886,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $14,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Arvest Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $18,115,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 12.1% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 101,420 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,375,000 after buying an additional 10,961 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on ACN. Citigroup boosted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Accenture from $395.00 to $422.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $373.32.

Accenture Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE ACN traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $359.97. 60,366 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,673,377. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $360.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $334.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $225.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio 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.