Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by LRI Investments LLC

LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,983 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $3,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE:ACN traded down $3.05 on Monday, hitting $359.65. The stock had a trading volume of 2,184,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,691,360. The stock has a market cap of $224.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a PEG ratio of 3.22 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 fifty day moving average price of $360.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $333.04.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders 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 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.09.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

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.