Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,337 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 105 shares during the period. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $473,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Accenture by 1.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,311,102,000 after acquiring an additional 131,544 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,652,537 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,999,056,000 after acquiring an additional 173,107 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,786,256,000 after acquiring an additional 80,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,797,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,316,086,000 after purchasing an additional 148,738 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. 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, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade 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 this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,971 shares of company stock worth $9,330,113 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $360.80 on Friday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $226.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $350.24 and its 200 day moving average is $322.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

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 paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.