Net Worth Advisory Group Acquires Shares of 1,782 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,782 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $630,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in shares of Accenture by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after buying an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $19,007,000. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 27.8% in the first quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 65,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $22,778,000 after buying an additional 14,283 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,693 shares of company stock worth $8,282,341. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $376.86 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $345.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $321.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $236.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 3.47 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

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.