Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC

Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,003 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 1.1% of Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,645 shares of company stock worth $4,818,002. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $0.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $360.74. 1,436,631 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,751,502. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a 50-day moving average of $339.97 and a 200-day moving average of $320.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. 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 company posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target 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. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company 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.