Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 12,968 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 219,145 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,968 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $77,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth about $26,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in 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 bought a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of ACN traded down $3.78 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $358.92. The company had a trading volume of 970,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,689,516. The firm has a market cap of $224.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $360.14 and a 200-day moving average of $333.04. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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 business's revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.09.

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.