Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 18,546 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,733 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings in Accenture were worth $6,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $4,047,000 after buying an additional 5,038 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,040,000. M&G PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $103,361,000 after acquiring an additional 74,438 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 70.6% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $12,581,000 after buying an additional 14,724 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in Accenture by 18.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 27,168 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,566,411.32. This represents a 22.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price 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 reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $8.50 on Friday, hitting $353.57. 3,624,539 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,730,625. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $355.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $327.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The company's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

Accenture 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.