Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Decreased by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,916 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 3,226 shares during the period. Commerce Bank's holdings in Accenture were worth $16,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a "neutral" rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $368.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $357.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.21 billion, a PE ratio of 31.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The business's fifty day moving average price is $356.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $328.39.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company's 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 directly owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last quarter. Corporate 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.