Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by CCLA Investment Management

CCLA Investment Management cut its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 267,710 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 14,069 shares during the period. CCLA Investment Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $94,209,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,500,430.72. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $348.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $357.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $344.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim lifted their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.04.

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.