Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Position Lowered by West Michigan Advisors LLC

West Michigan Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,562 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 67 shares during the quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 267.9% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was 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 hyperlink. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade 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 through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value 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 approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $364.20 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $348.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $322.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.35, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm 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 business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.