Clarus Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Clarus Group Inc. lowered its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,121 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Clarus Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,159 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group grew its holdings in Accenture by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $221,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter valued at about $28,567,000. Finally, Beacon Wealthcare LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth approximately $575,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,548 shares of company stock valued at $5,585,938. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $0.87 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $375.99. The stock had a trading volume of 532,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,728,531. The firm has a market cap of $235.63 billion, a PE ratio of 34.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $345.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $321.59. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

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

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given 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 of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 54.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Accenture Company 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.