Impax Asset Management Group plc trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 9.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,152 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 3,597 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc's holdings in Accenture were worth $12,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 5,038 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,040,000. M&G PLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 34.1% during the 3rd 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 lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 70.6% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $12,581,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. This trade represents a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $368.23.
View Our Latest Research Report on ACN
Accenture Stock Down 2.3 %
Shares of ACN traded down $8.50 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $353.57. 3,624,539 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,730,625. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $355.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $327.08. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company 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 (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.
Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. 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 1.67%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.
Accenture Company Profile
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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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