Foster & Motley Inc. Boosts Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,348 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 662 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 108.0% in the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of ACN opened at $345.59 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $352.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $324.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note 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 note on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

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.