Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,593 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 3,907 shares during the quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $9,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 30.6% in the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,262 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 11,341 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,931,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Rogco LP raised its stake in Accenture by 6.4% during the first quarter. Rogco LP now owns 1,633 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $566,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,077 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its position in Accenture by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 688,131 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $238,513,000 after buying an additional 25,867 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Accenture Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $3.34 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $360.64. 3,233,552 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,719,820. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $353.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $325.80. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $225.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.26, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. This is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

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 outstanding 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 a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were 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 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.