Diversified LLC Acquires 73 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Diversified LLC increased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,844 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the quarter. Diversified LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 108.0% during the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group boosted 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $358.66 on Monday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $224.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s fifty day moving average is $356.42 and its 200-day moving average is $329.23.

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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. This represents a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.