Dearborn Partners LLC Cuts Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Dearborn Partners LLC lowered its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 110,224 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 3,199 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 1.6% of Dearborn Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Dearborn Partners LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $38,962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the third quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Slow Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 7,744 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,870,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 2.4 %

NYSE ACN traded down $8.61 on Friday, hitting $353.46. 2,478,032 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,725,505. 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 $220.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.25. The business's 50 day moving average price is $355.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $326.73.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were 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 approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $368.23.

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.