Buffington Mohr McNeal Cuts Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

by · The Markets Daily

Buffington Mohr McNeal lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN – Free Report) by 28.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 688 shares during the quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in Accenture were worth $619,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 10.2% during the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Tsfg LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 31.1% in the second quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 4.5% in the second quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass More Asset Management lifted its holdings in Accenture by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 700 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

View Our Latest Analysis on ACN

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’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 value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $375.30 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $344.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $321.51. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $235.20 billion, a PE ratio of 34.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) last released its 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 net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost 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 yield of 1.58%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in 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 plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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