Creative Planning Buys 12,993 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Creative Planning raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 247,724 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,993 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Accenture were worth $87,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 6.8% during the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,159 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group boosted its holdings in Accenture by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. RDA Financial Network grew its stake in Accenture by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 1,108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth $221,000. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.9% in the first quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $836,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $376.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $236.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $345.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $321.67.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 54.21%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Guggenheim raised their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This represents 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 the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $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 23,693 shares of company stock valued at $8,282,341 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Company 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.