Quadrature Capital Ltd Sells 78,676 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Quadrature Capital Ltd reduced its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 82.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,757 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 78,676 shares during the quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd's holdings in Accenture were worth $5,921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $511,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,871,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock traded up $4.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $362.66. 2,332,237 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,697,060. The company has a market capitalization of $226.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $359.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $332.26.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.76 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ACN. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $372.09.

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.