Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Marcum Wealth LLC

Marcum Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,236 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 239 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $790,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture 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 owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,645 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,002 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several research reports. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of 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 Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $361.07 on Friday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $226.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.07, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s fifty day moving average is $338.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $320.27.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.