Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Lifted by Drake & Associates LLC

Drake & Associates LLC raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 925 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $327,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 267.9% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 108.0% during the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Guggenheim increased 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. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $375.30 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $344.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $321.51. The company has a market capitalization of $235.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.37, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.21%.

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

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.