Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Lessened by Chapman Investment Management LLC

Chapman Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,235 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 4,914 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 2.9% of Chapman Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Chapman Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,971,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth about $19,007,000. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 247,724 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $87,566,000 after acquiring an additional 12,993 shares during the last quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 27.8% in the 1st quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 65,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $22,778,000 after acquiring an additional 14,283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 41.6% in the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 12,216 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,318,000 after purchasing an additional 3,586 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $345.67 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $352.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $324.05. The company has a market capitalization of $216.10 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in 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 typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 1.71%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value 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 approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,412,909.16. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,107 shares of company stock valued at $12,275,914 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ACN. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America increased their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

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.