Scientech Research LLC Makes New Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Scientech Research LLC purchased a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,711,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 11.9% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 18.7% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 1,996 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 13.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $19,007,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ACN. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $361.77.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 5.6 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $355.81 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $333.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $321.39. The firm has a market cap of $222.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

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

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.