Grimes & Company Inc. Sells 1,030 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Grimes & Company Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 64,735 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,030 shares during the quarter. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $22,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Tsfg LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 267.9% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 108.0% in the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $3.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $366.72. The stock had a trading volume of 273,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,715,390. The company has a 50 day moving average of $348.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $322.52. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $229.82 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,221 shares of company stock valued at $7,572,755. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

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.