Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 77.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 399,757 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 175,011 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.0% of Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Accenture worth $141,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CX Institutional boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,536 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its position in Accenture by 3.1% during the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 5,507 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,671,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 21.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 970 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 775 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.2% during the second quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 610 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents 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 Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of ACN traded up $4.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $362.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,292,979 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,696,897. The company has a market cap of $226.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $359.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $332.26. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. This is a boost from Accenture's previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on ACN shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $372.09.

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.