NewEdge Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 67,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,254 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $20,530,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter valued at about $820,912,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $614,615,000 after acquiring an additional 875,723 shares in the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $286,220,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $263,421,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 251.3% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after acquiring an additional 712,400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $349.70 on Monday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $333.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $320.40.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Accenture from $293.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $364.64.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.