JGP Wealth Management LLC Boosts Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

JGP Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,790 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in Accenture by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after purchasing an additional 27,168 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its position in Accenture by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares during the period. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $19,007,000. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 27.8% during the 1st quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 65,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $22,778,000 after purchasing an additional 14,283 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other 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 transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,645 shares of company stock worth $4,818,002 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $361.01. The stock had a trading volume of 440,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,747,413. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $339.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $320.55. 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 $226.24 billion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 45.14%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.