Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 1,733 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,546 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,733 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.8% in the third quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 23,983 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,478,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,399 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,736,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the third quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 15,758 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,570,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.6% during the third quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,995 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,119,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC raised its position in Accenture by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 75,761 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $26,780,000 after buying an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $353.57 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $355.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $327.08. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $221.04 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 51.79%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction 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 approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

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.