HMS Capital Management LLC Purchases 459 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

HMS Capital Management LLC increased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,076 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the period. HMS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 44.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 251.3% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after buying an additional 712,400 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 196.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $342,483,000 after acquiring an additional 654,807 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,699,110,000 after acquiring an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACN. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

ACN opened at $345.59 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $352.58 and a 200-day moving average of $324.58. The stock has a market cap of $216.05 billion, a PE 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 51.79%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,566,411.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,566,411.32. 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, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.