Marion Wealth Management Buys 516 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Marion Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,590 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 1.1% of Marion Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Marion Wealth Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,097,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter worth $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $358.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $224.79 billion, a PE ratio of 32.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $336.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $319.71. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

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.