Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Capital Investment Counsel LLC

Capital Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,398 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at $256,000. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its holdings in Accenture by 45.7% in the 1st quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 28,423 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,852,000 after purchasing an additional 8,910 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 137.0% during the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 23,048 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,989,000 after buying an additional 13,325 shares in the last quarter. BlueMar Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at approximately $520,000. Finally, Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 71.3% during the first quarter. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 657 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Down 0.7 %

ACN opened at $358.66 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $356.42 and its 200-day moving average is $329.11. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

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

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.