Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,703 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,002 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $16,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 11,563 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,009,000 after buying an additional 874 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 4,558 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,580,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 115.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. now owns 47,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $16,442,000 after buying an additional 25,390 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Accenture by 196.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $342,483,000 after acquiring an additional 654,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Inc. CA purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,063,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $357.04 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $356.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $328.39. The company has a market capitalization of $223.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. This represents a 40.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays lifted 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. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

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.