Synovus Financial Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Synovus Financial Corp cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,962 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 549 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter worth $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $358.68 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $360.54 and its 200 day moving average is $334.65. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $224.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’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. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $373.32.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last quarter. 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.