L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Boosts Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 111,970 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 4.8% of L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in Accenture were worth $39,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,500,430.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,971 shares of company stock worth $9,330,113. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays upped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $3.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $360.80. The company had a trading volume of 2,129,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,722,404. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $350.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $322.94. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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 is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 54.21%.

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.