Provident Trust Co. Acquires 4,479 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Provident Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,569,264 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,479 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 10.0% of Provident Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $554,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth approximately $6,108,000. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in Accenture by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 45,609 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $16,122,000 after buying an additional 3,135 shares in the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc boosted its position in Accenture by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 8,559 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,026,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 8.3% during the third quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 727 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.5% during the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,769 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,928,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $355.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $222.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $353.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $325.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue 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. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.