Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Increased by Aristides Capital LLC

Aristides Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 58.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Aristides Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,308 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,776,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 17,892 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,278,000 after purchasing an additional 2,903 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 43.1% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 11,444 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,016,000 after buying an additional 3,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its position in Accenture by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 53,155 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $18,653,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $353.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $334.35 and a 200-day moving average of $320.23. The firm has a market cap of $221.43 billion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in 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 plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.05, for a total transaction of $1,166,972.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’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 directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. 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, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

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.