National Bank of Canada FI Sells 59,861 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

National Bank of Canada FI lessened its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 11.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 465,261 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 59,861 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.07% of Accenture worth $164,460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its position in Accenture by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,871,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $372.09.

Accenture Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $4.57 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $362.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,332,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,369,316. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $359.88 and a 200-day moving average of $332.26.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. This is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, 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 completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total transaction of $1,866,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 22.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.