Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Sells 991 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 23.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,305 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 991 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth $35,000. Tsfg LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 267.9% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 108.0% in the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ACN. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $376.86 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $345.48 and its 200-day moving average is $321.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. 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 other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,693 shares of company stock worth $8,282,341 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Accenture

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.