Belmont Capital LLC Sells 40 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Belmont Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,414 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. Belmont Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 108.0% during the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 4.47 % 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, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $352.79 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $355.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $327.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.55 billion, a PE ratio of 30.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

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.