Boston Trust Walden Corp Sells 2,229 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Boston Trust Walden Corp decreased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 615,311 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,229 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.5% of Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned approximately 0.10% of Accenture worth $217,500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Covenant Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.5% during the third quarter. Covenant Partners LLC now owns 6,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $577,000. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 285.5% in the third quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 586 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 434 shares during the period. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.0% during the third quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its position in Accenture by 56.5% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 4,650 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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, Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the 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 directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related 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 value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.9 %

Accenture stock traded down $3.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $360.80. 2,129,390 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,722,404. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $350.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $323.02. The stock has a market cap of $226.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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 issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in 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 plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.