WoodTrust Financial Corp Raises Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

WoodTrust Financial Corp increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 21.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 832 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Accenture during the first quarter worth approximately $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 251.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after purchasing an additional 712,400 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 196.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $342,483,000 after purchasing an additional 654,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after acquiring an additional 635,349 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,566,411.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.24, for a total value of $1,866,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,593 shares in the company, valued at $6,566,411.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,102,817. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $356.13 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $352.96 and its 200-day moving average is $324.80. The company has a market capitalization of $222.64 billion, a PE ratio of 31.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan 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 purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

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.