Harvey Investment Co. LLC Takes $276,000 Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Harvey Investment Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 780 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its position in Accenture by 507.7% in 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. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Tsfg LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 267.9% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 103 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 108.0% during the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. Barclays lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. 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 20,221 shares of company stock valued at $7,572,755 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $366.72 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $348.78 and its 200 day moving average is $322.52.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share 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 buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.