Caprock Group LLC Purchases 10,750 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Caprock Group LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 97,059 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 10,750 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 1.2% of Caprock Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Caprock Group LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $34,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its position in Accenture by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 94,866 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $33,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,307 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 6.4% during the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 843,330 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $298,100,000 after buying an additional 50,866 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 1.9% in the third quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 11,471 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,055,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Zevin Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Zevin Asset Management LLC now owns 33,532 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $11,853,000 after acquiring an additional 857 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. This represents a 40.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $1.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $353.85. The stock had a trading volume of 2,447,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,725,069. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $355.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $328.19. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.96, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. This is a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.