Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,865 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 817 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,067,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,311,102,000 after buying an additional 131,544 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Accenture by 2.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,999,056,000 after acquiring an additional 173,107 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Accenture by 1.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,786,256,000 after acquiring an additional 80,514 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 4.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,316,086,000 after acquiring an additional 148,738 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $360.87 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $349.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $322.81. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.05, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding 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 plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 54.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho increased their price target on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective 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. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

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.