Zions Bancorporation N.A. Raises Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.9% 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 17,226 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,968 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,089,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 333,221 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $117,787,000 after purchasing an additional 3,959 shares during the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 60.0% during the third quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 6,573 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,323,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $6,467,000. Cable Hill Partners LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 65.1% during the third quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 1,549 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 611 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Accenture by 700.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 160 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $8.15 on Thursday, reaching $362.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,343,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,725,903. 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 $226.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.79, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.25. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $354.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $326.48.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. 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 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding 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 plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.