Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by First PREMIER Bank

First PREMIER Bank raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 714.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 456 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. First PREMIER Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $729,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 66,553 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $23,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,287 shares during the last quarter. Symmetry Investments LP acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $432,000. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 5,330 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,870,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 57,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,196,000 after purchasing an additional 2,445 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity 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 sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE ACN traded up $1.23 on Wednesday, hitting $361.61. 68,669 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,752,483. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $337.87 and a 200 day moving average of $319.95. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $226.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. 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 presently 54.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Wedbush dropped their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

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.