Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Has $5.31 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,019 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 184 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 1.2% of Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd lifted its stake in Accenture by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 125,455 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $44,216,000 after acquiring an additional 5,352 shares in the last quarter. James Hambro & Partners LLP grew its position in Accenture by 7.5% in the third quarter. James Hambro & Partners LLP now owns 1,426 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp increased its stake in Accenture by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 7,274 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,571,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. lifted its position in Accenture by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 3,502 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,238,000 after buying an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $329,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America increased their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $0.73 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $376.13. 733,753 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,729,522. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $345.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $321.59. The company has a market cap of $235.72 billion, a PE ratio of 34.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,548 shares of company stock worth $5,585,938. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture 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.