Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC

Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,087 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 45 shares during the quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 346 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Tsfg LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 31.1% in the second quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 747 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Encompass More Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.8% in the second quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 700 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Country Club Bank grew its holdings in Accenture by 1.0% during the second quarter. Country Club Bank now owns 3,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,045,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ACN. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Accenture from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $382.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,149,550. 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, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,645 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,002 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $360.71 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $339.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $320.74. The company has a market capitalization of $226.05 billion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued 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. The firm 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 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 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 given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.14%.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.