Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Callahan Advisors LLC

Callahan Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,728 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 767 shares during the period. Callahan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Catalina Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 14.3% during the third quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 2,514 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $889,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Balentine LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 14.3% during the third quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. HMS Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 9.9% during the third quarter. HMS Capital Management LLC now owns 5,076 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,794,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Family Office LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 31.0% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Family Office LLC now owns 4,784 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 4.4% during the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,536 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on ACN shares. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $345.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.05 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $352.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $324.58. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.