Kimelman & Baird LLC Makes New Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,000 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 31.8% in the second quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 15,246 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,626,000 after buying an additional 3,676 shares during the last quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management raised its holdings in Accenture by 38.3% in the 2nd quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 170,313 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $51,675,000 after acquiring an additional 47,192 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in Accenture by 340.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 652 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $198,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 92,083 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.0% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 67,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,530,000 after purchasing an additional 7,254 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $353.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $334.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $320.23. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.43 billion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the 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 completion of 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. 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 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.