West Michigan Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

West Michigan Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,562 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 67 shares during the period. West Michigan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Accenture by 45.1% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 11,948 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,141,000 after buying an additional 3,716 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its position in Accenture by 159.5% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 3,615 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,459 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 514.3% during the first quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 172 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. 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. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. 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 available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 1.7 %

ACN opened at $364.20 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $348.78 and its 200-day moving average is $322.52. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.