Modus Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $59,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 78.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 5,038 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 70.6% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,581,000 after buying an additional 14,724 shares during the period. M&G PLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $103,361,000 after acquiring an additional 74,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in Accenture by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $52,247,000 after acquiring an additional 27,168 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,673 shares of company stock worth $13,507,099 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.4 %

Accenture stock opened at $353.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $221.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.96, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $357.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $341.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.23.

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.