Cumberland Partners Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,065 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 18,804 shares during the quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd's holdings in Accenture were worth $2,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $511,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 0.4% during the third quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 7,744 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,870,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Shares of ACN stock traded up $1.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $358.55. 482,496 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,707,653. The stock's 50 day moving average is $353.95 and its 200-day moving average is $325.80. The company has a market cap of $224.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The business 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.
Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. 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 presently 51.79%.
In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.
Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Barclays boosted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $368.23.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on ACN
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.
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