Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,146 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 43 shares during the period. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new stake in Accenture in the first quarter worth approximately $256,000. Bamco Inc. NY raised its holdings in Accenture by 45.7% in the 1st quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 28,423 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $9,852,000 after purchasing an additional 8,910 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 137.0% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 23,048 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,989,000 after buying an additional 13,325 shares during the period. BlueMar Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $520,000. Finally, Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 71.3% in the first quarter. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.7 %

ACN opened at $358.66 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $356.42 and a 200 day moving average of $329.11. The stock has a market cap of $224.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. 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 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Accenture

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.