Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA Raises Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA grew its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,871 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 1.8% of Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 45.1% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 11,948 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,141,000 after acquiring an additional 3,716 shares in the last quarter. Aspiriant LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 3,928 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,361,000 after buying an additional 809 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 159.5% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 3,615 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,253,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222 shares during the period. Finally, Stokes Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 3.5% in the first quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 18,121 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $370.63 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.27 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $348.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $322.52.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. 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 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. 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 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

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 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 programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. This trade represents 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 20,221 shares of company stock worth $7,572,755 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is 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.