Atwater Malick LLC Buys 643 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Atwater Malick LLC grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 38,416 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 643 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 4.4% of Atwater Malick LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Atwater Malick LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $13,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,645 shares of company stock worth $4,818,002 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.33 on Friday, hitting $360.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,436,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,751,502. The company has a market capitalization of $226.07 billion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $339.97 and its 200-day moving average is $320.74.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program 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 buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

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.