Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by KPP Advisory Services LLC

KPP Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,466 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. New Century Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 209.9% during the second quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 2,005 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $608,000 after purchasing an additional 1,358 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 963 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Aristides Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 58.8% during the 2nd quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 5,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $717,000. Finally, Ted Buchan & Co purchased a new position in Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $325,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $353.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $334.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $320.23. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued 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. 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 previous year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday. Bank of America raised their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Accenture 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.