Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Increased by Cape ANN Savings Bank

Cape ANN Savings Bank grew its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,038 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Cape ANN Savings Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $820,912,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in Accenture by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $614,615,000 after purchasing an additional 875,723 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 44.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 251.3% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $302,165,000 after purchasing an additional 712,400 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 196.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $342,483,000 after buying an additional 654,807 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $360.38 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $337.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $319.79. The firm has a market cap of $225.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change 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 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.21%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total value of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 40,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,390,445.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.