Haverford Financial Services Inc. Sells 5,631 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Haverford Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 13.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,849 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 5,631 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 3.5% of Haverford Financial Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Haverford Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,311,102,000 after buying an additional 131,544 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,056,000 after acquiring an additional 173,107 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Accenture by 1.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,786,256,000 after acquiring an additional 80,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 4.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,086,000 after purchasing an additional 148,738 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN traded up $2.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $347.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 227,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,717,385. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $352.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $323.82. The company has a market capitalization of $217.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.