Confluence Investment Management LLC Has $1.13 Million Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Confluence Investment Management LLC lessened its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,205 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. 49 Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $266,000. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at $221,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 104.2% in the first quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 20,234 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,013,000 after buying an additional 10,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC now owns 2,168 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $752,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACN. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $355.51 on Friday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $222.25 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $353.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $325.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

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

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.