Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC Makes New $320,000 Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 904 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 378.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,941,219,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $302,165,000 after purchasing an additional 712,400 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 37,788.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $180,401,000 after buying an additional 509,011 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $362.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $360.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $333.42. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $226.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.09.

About Accenture

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.