Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. cut its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 523 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $185,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Accenture in the first quarter valued at $89,000. TFB Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $252,000. Catalina Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 103.7% in the 1st quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 2,402 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 1,223 shares during the period. Bancreek Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Bancreek Capital Management LP now owns 18,111 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,277,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Finally, Team Hewins LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Team Hewins LLC now owns 4,050 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,107 shares of company stock worth $12,275,914 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $343.90 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $352.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $324.38.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company 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 $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

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.