Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Sells 475 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 475 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 1.8% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,883,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 70.6% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,581,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Accenture by 18.7% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 21.6% during the third quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 22,131 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,823,000 after purchasing an additional 3,930 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $19,007,000. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 41.6% during the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 12,216 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,318,000 after purchasing an additional 3,586 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $10.64 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $356.13. The company had a trading volume of 3,009,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,720,781. The company has a 50 day moving average of $352.96 and a 200 day moving average of $324.80. The firm has a market cap of $222.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm 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 yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. 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 stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.