CIBC Asset Management Inc Boosts Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 8.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 111,561 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,338 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc's holdings in Accenture were worth $39,411,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 78.6% in the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,047,000 after acquiring an additional 5,038 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,040,000. M&G PLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 34.1% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $103,361,000 after buying an additional 74,438 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 70.6% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $12,581,000 after buying an additional 14,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $52,247,000 after acquiring an additional 27,168 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $8.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $353.57. 3,624,539 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,730,625. The company has a market capitalization of $221.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.93, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The company's 50-day moving average is $355.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $327.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture's payout ratio is 51.79%.

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.