Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Purchases 2,046 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 55,909 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,046 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $19,763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the first 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 period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 267.9% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $376.86 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $345.48 and its 200 day moving average is $321.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.21%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,693 shares of company stock worth $8,282,341 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.