Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Lionsbridge Wealth Management LLC

Lionsbridge Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,391 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 37 shares during the quarter. Lionsbridge Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Provident Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 1,569,264 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $554,703,000 after purchasing an additional 4,479 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,108,000. Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.4% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 45,609 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $16,122,000 after acquiring an additional 3,135 shares during the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the third quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 8,559 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,026,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.3% in the third quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 727 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $355.51 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $353.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $325.32. The firm has a market cap of $222.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors 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 paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

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.