Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Holdings Raised by B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 31.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 15,246 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,676 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,308 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $1,776,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 17,892 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,278,000 after purchasing an additional 2,903 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 11,444 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 3,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its position in Accenture by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 53,155 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $18,653,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $353.33 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $334.35 and a 200-day moving average of $320.23. The stock has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 47.25%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. Morgan Stanley downgraded Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Bank of America increased their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.