Asio Capital LLC Increases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Asio Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,790 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the quarter. Asio Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. First Affirmative Financial Network boosted its stake in Accenture by 8.8% during the third quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 2,255 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $797,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 13.6% during the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,089 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,859,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 22.8% during the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 2,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the period. JGP Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 6.5% during the third quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,790 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $986,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.2% during the third quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 34,612 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,235,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $360.71 on Friday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $339.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $320.74.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business 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%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.14%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The trade was 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 quarter. 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.