Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. Sells 160,610 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,238,332 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 160,610 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 11.3% of Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.'s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. owned 0.36% of Accenture worth $791,206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Accenture by 1.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,311,102,000 after purchasing an additional 131,544 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Accenture by 2.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,999,056,000 after purchasing an additional 173,107 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Accenture by 1.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,786,256,000 after purchasing an additional 80,514 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 4.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,316,086,000 after purchasing an additional 148,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 44.7% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Accenture Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $8.50 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $353.57. 3,624,539 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,730,625. The stock has a market cap of $221.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.93, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $355.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $327.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

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 given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.