iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,557 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $550,000.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 10.1% during the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 383 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department grew its stake in Accenture by 24.6% in the second quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 735 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 22.3% in the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,863 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. Park National Corp OH boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 19.3% in the 2nd quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 150,603 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $45,694,000 after buying an additional 24,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.B. Root & Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $228,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Accenture Stock Performance
NYSE ACN traded up $4.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $362.70. 2,332,307 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,369,316. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The business's 50 day moving average is $360.14 and its 200-day moving average is $333.04. The company has a market capitalization of $226.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.24.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.
Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research firms have issued reports on ACN. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.09.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Accenture
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
About Accenture
(
Free Report)
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.
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