Wealthstream Advisors Inc. Buys 73 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Wealthstream Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 878 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Wealthstream Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 17,226 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,089,000 after buying an additional 1,968 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in Accenture by 1.2% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 333,221 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $117,787,000 after acquiring an additional 3,959 shares during the period. Peak Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 60.0% in the third quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 6,573 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,323,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,467,000. Finally, Cable Hill Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 65.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 1,549 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 611 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ACN. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $370.34 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $354.85 and its 200 day moving average is $326.48. The stock has a market cap of $231.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend yield of 1.60%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.