Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Grows Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 443,254 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,261 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned approximately 0.07% of Accenture worth $156,681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 18,051 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,381,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.5% in the third quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 5,927 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,095,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 10.4% in the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,905 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,027,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Accenture by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 144,230 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $53,456,000 after acquiring an additional 11,529 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,107 shares of company stock valued at $12,275,914 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America upped their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $345.67 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $352.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $324.19. The stock has a market cap of $216.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. 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 51.79%.

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.