Mattern Wealth Management LLC Sells 5,707 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mattern Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 62.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,485 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 5,707 shares during the period. Mattern Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,232,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Slow Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 10.2% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.5% in the second quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,548 shares of company stock valued at $3,936,838 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded down $3.77 on Tuesday, reaching $372.26. The company had a trading volume of 491,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,723,705. The company’s fifty day moving average is $346.72 and its 200-day moving average is $321.91. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $233.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current 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 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid 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 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

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.