Kelly Financial Services LLC Has $266,000 Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Kelly Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 16.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 751 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the quarter. Kelly Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 214.8% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,819 shares in the company, valued at $3,652,661.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.22, for a total transaction of $927,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,390,445.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 3,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $3,652,661.95. 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 ninety days, insiders sold 21,421 shares of company stock worth $6,912,635. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $363.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $227.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.43, a PEG ratio of 3.69 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $338.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $320.27.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 54.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. UBS Group increased their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Accenture in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.