Osher Van de Voorde Investment Management Reduces Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Osher Van de Voorde Investment Management trimmed its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACNFree Report) by 0.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 51,940 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 179 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 4.0% of Osher Van de Voorde Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Osher Van de Voorde Investment Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $18,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st 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. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Finally, 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 note on Friday, September 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Accenture

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $360.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $225.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.00, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $337.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $319.95.

Accenture (NYSE:ACNGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is a boost 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 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. 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. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Accenture (NYSE:ACN)

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