Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Position Reduced by Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC

Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 227,142 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 5,874 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 4.8% of Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $80,290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 21,990 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,622,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth about $261,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 24.0% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 133,950 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $46,428,000 after purchasing an additional 25,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motive Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at about $221,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Trading Up 3.1 %

NYSE ACN opened at $356.13 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $352.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $324.80. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program 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 buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.