Klingman & Associates LLC Raises Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Klingman & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 87.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,310 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,079 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 70.6% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,581,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 34.1% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $103,361,000 after buying an additional 74,438 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 18.7% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $52,247,000 after buying an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 21.6% during the third quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 22,131 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,823,000 after acquiring an additional 3,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $19,007,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $355.51 on Friday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $222.25 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $353.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $325.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

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.