Nemes Rush Group LLC Sells 124 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Nemes Rush Group LLC reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 25.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 360 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 124 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 18.7% in the second 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 in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 1,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $733,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Accenture by 13.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $63,584,000 after acquiring an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth approximately $19,007,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $349.70 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $219.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $333.92 and its 200 day moving average is $320.40.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $364.64.

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.