Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 86,298 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 17,013 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $30,505,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 378.9% during 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 valued at $1,941,219,000 after buying an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $822,238,000 after buying an additional 837,677 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 251.3% during the 2nd 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 buying an additional 712,400 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 37,788.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $180,401,000 after purchasing an additional 509,011 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock traded up $4.53 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $362.66. The company had a trading volume of 2,332,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,697,060. The firm has a market cap of $226.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $359.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $332.26.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.76 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans 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 Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 51.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.09.

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.