QRG Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 175,375 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,732 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 0.7% of QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $61,992,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 44.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after buying an additional 837,677 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Accenture by 251.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after buying an additional 712,400 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 196.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $342,483,000 after buying an additional 654,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $346.17 on Monday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $216.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $352.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $324.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction 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 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,107 shares of company stock valued at $12,275,914. 0.07% of the stock is currently 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.