Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,377 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 2.0% of Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Guggenheim increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley cut Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Mizuho raised their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,652,661.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at $12,390,445.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,421 shares of company stock valued at $6,912,635 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $5.56 on Monday, hitting $356.68. 1,536,464 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,768,483. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $336.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $319.71. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $223.53 billion, a PE ratio of 32.66, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly 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 firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.21%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.