Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Kingsview Wealth Management LLC

Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,787 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 304,101 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $107,493,000 after buying an additional 31,707 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.7% in the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 35,048 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,559 shares in the last quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 11.8% in the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 35.1% in the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,063 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $745,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the period. Finally, Leelyn Smith LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 12,917 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,566,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE ACN opened at $358.66 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $356.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $329.23. The firm has a market cap of $224.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 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 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.