Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 793,231 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 179,534 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $280,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at $89,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 12.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 22,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,777,000 after buying an additional 2,560 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 15.4% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 6,783 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,351,000 after buying an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 1.0% during the first quarter. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC now owns 22,608 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,836,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings in Accenture by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 167,529 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $58,067,000 after acquiring an additional 12,700 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $360.96 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $352.96 and its 200 day moving average is $324.80. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $225.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.58, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. 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 news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

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.