Copeland Capital Management LLC Has $12.38 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Copeland Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,033 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,374 shares during the quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Slow Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,205,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 10.2% during the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Tsfg LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 31.1% during the second quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.5% during the second quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total transaction of $1,866,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,566,411.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,566,411.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,548 shares of company stock valued at $7,322,278 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup upped 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. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $371.69 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $347.76 and its 200-day moving average is $322.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.94 billion, a PE ratio of 34.04, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 54.21%.

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.