Stifel Financial Corp Purchases 28,491 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,892,409 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 28,491 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 0.7% of Stifel Financial Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Stifel Financial Corp owned 0.30% of Accenture worth $668,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,912,962 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,311,102,000 after purchasing an additional 131,544 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Accenture by 1.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,786,256,000 after buying an additional 80,514 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 378.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,941,219,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,823,754 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,705,100,000 after acquiring an additional 56,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $1.90 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $358.13. 1,676,589 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,698,000. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $359.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $332.08.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. 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 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. 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. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $368.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.