Asio Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Asio Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,790 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. Asio Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $820,912,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in Accenture by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $614,615,000 after buying an additional 875,723 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after buying an additional 837,677 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Accenture by 251.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $302,165,000 after buying an additional 712,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in Accenture by 196.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $342,483,000 after buying an additional 654,807 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 1,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,645 shares of company stock worth $4,818,002. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $360.71 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $339.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $320.74. The company has a market capitalization of $226.05 billion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. 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 is 45.14%.

Accenture Company 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.