Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Lifted by Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 19.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,419 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 837,677 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 712,400 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased 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 worth $342,483,000 after acquiring an additional 654,807 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after purchasing an additional 635,349 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $376.03 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $235.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $346.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $321.91.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Citigroup increased their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 10,548 shares of company stock valued at $3,936,838 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is 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.