Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by iA Global Asset Management Inc.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 67.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 106,831 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 225,305 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $37,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 78.6% in the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,047,000 after acquiring an additional 5,038 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in 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. M&G PLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 74,438 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 18.7% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $52,247,000 after buying an additional 27,168 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 90 days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.09.

Accenture Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $4.57 on Friday, hitting $362.70. The company had a trading volume of 2,332,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,369,316. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.73, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The business has a 50 day moving average of $360.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $332.86.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

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.