Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is FCF Advisors LLC’s 7th Largest Position

FCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 17.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,405 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,365 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 1.8% of FCF Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. FCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 507.7% during the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 214.8% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,652,661.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total value of $1,166,972.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $2.70 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $359.50. 445,204 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,756,508. The stock has a market cap of $225.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.82, a PEG ratio of 3.69 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $337.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $319.79.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 54.21%.

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

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.