GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. Has $2.39 Million Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 93.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,762 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 98,982 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 1.6% of GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Slow Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,205,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during 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 buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass More Asset Management increased its stake in Accenture by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 700 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,221 shares of company stock valued at $7,572,755. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. UBS Group raised their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $370.63 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $348.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $322.52. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

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 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are 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 given a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 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.