Clarius Group LLC Sells 73 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Clarius Group LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,362 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 73 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,890,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its position in Accenture by 641.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 17,660 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,242,000 after purchasing an additional 15,278 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT grew its position in Accenture by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 48,946 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,302,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,051 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,820,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 70,456 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $24,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cypress Wealth Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE ACN traded up $0.47 during trading on Friday, reaching $361.54. 56,235 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,745,464. The firm has a market cap of $226.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $339.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $320.55.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 45.14%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,645 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,002 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.