Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Increased by McBroom & Associates LLC

McBroom & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,944 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 868 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 4.1% of McBroom & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. McBroom & Associates LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. RFG Advisory LLC grew its position in Accenture by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,159 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group increased its position in shares of Accenture by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. RDA Financial Network raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 1,108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the first quarter valued at about $221,000. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 2.9% during the first quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $836,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $376.86 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $345.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $321.67. The firm has a market cap of $236.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is an increase 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 (DPR) is presently 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. 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. Morgan Stanley cut Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,693 shares of company stock worth $8,282,341. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.