Clarus Group Inc. Sells 72 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Clarus Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,121 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Clarus Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. RFG Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.8% during the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,159 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,095,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group increased its holdings in Accenture by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth about $221,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth approximately $28,567,000. Finally, Beacon Wealthcare LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the first quarter worth $575,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho increased their price target on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays upped 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, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was 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 through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,548 shares of company stock valued at $5,585,938 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2 %

ACN stock traded down $0.87 on Monday, hitting $375.99. The company had a trading volume of 532,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,728,531. The stock has a market cap of $235.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $345.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $321.59. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan 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 buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.