Greenwood Gearhart Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Greenwood Gearhart Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 11.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,367 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,472 shares during the period. Greenwood Gearhart Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 378.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,941,219,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 251.3% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $302,165,000 after purchasing an additional 712,400 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter worth $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 37,788.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $180,401,000 after acquiring an additional 509,011 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on ACN. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Mizuho raised their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $372.09.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $3.25 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $362.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,278,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,688,578. The stock has a market cap of $226.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $360.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $333.42. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. 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 dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 22.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

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.