MQS Management LLC Acquires Shares of 2,942 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 2,942 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,040,000. Accenture comprises 0.6% of MQS Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. D Orazio & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 4,813 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,668,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 5.0% in the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,275 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,215,000 after buying an additional 445 shares during the period. Zevin Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 1,265.0% during the first quarter. Zevin Asset Management LLC now owns 21,349 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,400,000 after buying an additional 19,785 shares during the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 107,668 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $37,319,000 after buying an additional 2,160 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 634,504 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $219,926,000 after acquiring an additional 12,888 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE ACN opened at $360.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $225.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.55, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $354.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $326.17.

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

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given 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 yield of 1.64%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 51.79%.

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.