Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.’s 5th Largest Position

Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,006 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 2.5% of Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,132,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.8% during the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,159 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.9% during the first quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $221,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $28,567,000. Finally, Beacon Wealthcare LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $575,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $376.86 on Monday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $236.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $345.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $321.59.

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 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business 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 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. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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 issued a $1.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,548 shares of company stock valued at $5,585,938 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.