Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 77,123 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 2,164 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $27,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 5,038 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,040,000. M&G PLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 34.1% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $103,361,000 after acquiring an additional 74,438 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 70.6% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $12,581,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Accenture Stock Performance
Shares of Accenture stock traded down $8.50 on Friday, reaching $353.57. 3,624,539 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,555,959. The firm's 50 day moving average is $355.55 and its 200-day moving average is $327.26. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $221.04 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.25.
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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. Accenture's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.
Accenture Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 51.79%.
Insider Activity at Accenture
In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $368.23.
Read Our Latest Report on ACN
Accenture Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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