Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Buys 10,634 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 60,759 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,634 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $21,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 39.8% during the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 2,755 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,820 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $8,066,000 after buying an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 2,029 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $717,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 94.3% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 11,393 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,027,000 after purchasing an additional 5,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waverton Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $232,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $3.34 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $360.64. 3,233,552 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,719,820. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $353.95 and a 200-day moving average of $325.80. The stock has a market cap of $225.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.26, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) 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 the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This is an increase from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Susquehanna increased their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $368.23.

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.