778 Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Acquired by Alta Wealth Advisors LLC

Alta Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 778 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $275,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 6.9% in the first quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. RDA Financial Network increased its stake in Accenture by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 1,108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $221,000. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.9% in the first quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $836,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $376.86 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $345.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $321.67. The firm has a market cap of $236.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $1.48 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Citigroup upped their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.18.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents 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, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $8,282,341. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company 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.