Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Position Raised by First Affirmative Financial Network

First Affirmative Financial Network boosted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,255 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. First Affirmative Financial Network’s holdings in Accenture were worth $797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $360.71 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $339.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $320.74. The company has a market cap of $226.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % 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. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,645 shares of company stock worth $4,818,002 over the last quarter. 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.