Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Has $5.05 Million Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 67.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,635 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 28,139 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $5,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 108.0% in the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $0.85 on Friday, hitting $345.67. 2,579,809 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,728,620. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.10 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.25. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $352.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $324.12.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 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.