DGS Capital Management LLC Has $737,000 Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

DGS Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,085 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 221 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $737,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $1.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $358.90. 152,947 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,673,653. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $360.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $334.25. The company has a market cap of $224.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.52, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $422.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $373.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.