Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Short Interest Update

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,900,000 shares, a decrease of 7.1% from the November 30th total of 6,350,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,540,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 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 transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $0.70 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $351.79. 1,747,457 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,686,943. Accenture has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $358.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $341.30. The company has a market cap of $219.93 billion, a PE ratio of 30.78, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.27 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna boosted 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. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.23.

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.