Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Position Lifted by Avity Investment Management Inc.

Avity Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,338 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,985 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 3.3% of Avity Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $42,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $360.74 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $339.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $320.74. The firm has a market cap of $226.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. 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 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.14%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding 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 management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,645 shares of company stock worth $4,818,002 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.