Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Buys Shares of 305,566 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 305,566 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $108,011,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was 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 $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value 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 $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 three months, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $3.79 during trading on Monday, hitting $358.91. The stock had a trading volume of 1,329,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,691,057. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $360.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $333.04.

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, topping 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 analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.