Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Insider Sells $250,477.14 in Stock

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $360.87 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $349.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $322.81. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $226.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s quarterly 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 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in 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 typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its position in Accenture by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 5,182 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,832,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 662.5% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 17,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,164,000 after acquiring an additional 15,151 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 547.1% during the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,158 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,670 shares during the period. SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 1,023 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,258 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,802,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.