Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Kensington Investment Counsel LLC

Kensington Investment Counsel LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 294 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 2.0% of Kensington Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 37.5% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 253 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in Accenture by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 115,010 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $40,654,000 after acquiring an additional 16,946 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $550,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $11,300,000 after purchasing an additional 7,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 24.6% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 86,298 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $30,505,000 after purchasing an additional 17,013 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $362.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $226.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.73, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $360.14 and a 200-day moving average of $332.86.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.76 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ACN. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $372.09.

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.