Soros Fund Management LLC Has $26.81 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Soros Fund Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 62.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,852 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 124,359 shares during the period. Soros Fund Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $26,812,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% in the third 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. grew its holdings 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 worth $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.6 %

Accenture stock traded up $5.90 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $364.03. 1,073,910 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,691,534. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $359.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $332.26. The firm has a market cap of $227.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24. 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 released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. This is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho upped their price target on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $372.09.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

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.