Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA Grows Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 5.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,635 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,437 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.5% of Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA's holdings in Accenture were worth $25,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 378.9% during the third 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 valued at $1,941,219,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd 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 period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 251.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $302,165,000 after purchasing an additional 712,400 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 509,011 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. This trade represents a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was 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 approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $372.09.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock traded down $4.13 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $358.57. 1,068,962 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,689,859. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.16 billion, a PE ratio of 31.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $360.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $333.04.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

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.