Welch Group LLC Acquires 1,305 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Welch Group LLC lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,590 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,305 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ACN. LVW Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its stake in Accenture by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 10,150 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 16.6% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 609,226 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $211,164,000 after buying an additional 86,848 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after acquiring an additional 21,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edmonds Duncan Registered Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.1% during the first quarter. Edmonds Duncan Registered Investment Advisors LLC now owns 600 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ACN. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of ACN stock traded up $3.97 on Monday, reaching $364.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 191,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,710,236. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $350.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $322.93. The company has a market capitalization of $228.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for 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%. Accenture’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.62%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 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.