Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,800 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,859 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $35,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Slow Capital Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 7,744 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,870,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was 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 valued at $13,372,661 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $355.53 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $353.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $325.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 51.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten investment 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, the stock has a consensus 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.