Entropy Technologies LP Takes Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,107 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $745,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 9,688 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,425,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 19.8% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,197 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,837,000 after acquiring an additional 859 shares in the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management boosted its stake in Accenture by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 3,122 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,104,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 75.8% during the third quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 5,240 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,852,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $104,924,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Accenture Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of ACN stock traded down $8.50 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $353.57. 3,600,264 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,730,625. The stock has a market cap of $221.04 billion, a PE ratio of 31.21, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.25. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $355.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $326.73. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. 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 1.67%. Accenture's payout ratio is 51.79%.

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

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

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.