Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Meridiem Investment Management Ltd.

Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. cut its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 823,440 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 12,483 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 5.2% of Meridiem Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.13% of Accenture worth $291,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,159 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. &PARTNERS increased its stake in Accenture by 328.2% during the first quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 3,451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after acquiring an additional 2,645 shares during the period. Unique Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 5,602 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,942,000 after acquiring an additional 993 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 84,839 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,406,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group increased its position in shares of Accenture by 6.9% during the first quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

Accenture stock traded up $1.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $376.86. The stock had a trading volume of 1,893,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,739,403. 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 $236.18 billion, a PE ratio of 34.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $345.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $321.77.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 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 represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho increased their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was 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 directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,693 shares of company stock worth $8,282,341. Company 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.