Korea Investment CORP Has $136.17 Million Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Korea Investment CORP lowered its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 18.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 441,281 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 102,187 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Accenture were worth $136,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Barrett & Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Sageworth Trust Co increased its position in Accenture by 872.7% in the 1st quarter. Sageworth Trust Co now owns 107 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 74.0% during the 1st quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.48, for a total value of $1,567,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,265 shares in the company, valued at $6,048,697.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.04, for a total value of $1,887,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,816,308.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.48, for a total transaction of $1,567,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,048,697.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,334 shares of company stock worth $10,939,027 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN traded up $0.05 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $330.95. 580,218 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,230,240. The stock has a market cap of $207.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.23. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $242.80 and a twelve month high of $332.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $309.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $308.63.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 28th. The information technology services provider reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $15.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.07 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 29.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 28th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 12th were issued a $1.29 dividend. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 11th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 9th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, September 26th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, November 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $312.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $312.00 to $300.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $337.26.

About Accenture

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.