Rehmann Capital Advisory Group Decreases Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lowered its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,719 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 341 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $372.09.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE ACN opened at $363.85 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $360.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $333.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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 analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

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

Accenture Company 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.