StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. Has $212,000 Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. reduced its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 600 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 335 shares during the period. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Accenture during the first quarter worth about $820,912,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of Accenture by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $614,615,000 after purchasing an additional 875,723 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after buying an additional 837,677 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 251.3% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after buying an additional 712,400 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in Accenture by 196.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $342,483,000 after buying an additional 654,807 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of ACN opened at $360.38 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $337.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $319.95. The stock has a market cap of $225.85 billion, a PE ratio of 33.00, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Susquehanna upped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America upped their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

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.