Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Lowers Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,017 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 5,048 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $24,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. 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. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.09.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $4.57 on Friday, hitting $362.70. 2,332,307 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,369,316. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $359.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $332.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its 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 firm earned $2.71 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. 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 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. 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 in the last quarter. 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.