2,363 Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Purchased by 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,363 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $717,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the first quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0 %

Accenture stock opened at $353.33 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $334.35 and a 200-day moving average of $320.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company 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 $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 47.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. 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 research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Finally, Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

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.