Wedmont Private Capital Has $1.57 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 31.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,389 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $361.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $226.28 billion, a PE ratio of 33.07, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $338.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $320.27.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. This trade 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 the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,570 shares in the company, valued at $12,149,550. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,645 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,002 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.