Sawyer & Company Inc Purchases 14,908 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Sawyer & Company Inc acquired a new stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 14,908 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,734,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. IMG Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 134.8% in the first quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 155 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 57.9% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 210 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 147.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 215 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank lifted its position in Accenture by 38.0% during the 1st quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 218 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.4%

ACN traded down $0.91 on Wednesday, reaching $238.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,687,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,982,249. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $291.09. The business’s 50 day moving average is $191.75 and its 200 day moving average is $174.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market cap of $159.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.11.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 1st. The information technology services provider reported $3.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.53% and a net margin of 11.28%. The company had revenue of $18.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.03 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Accenture has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.390-14.810 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to buy back $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 13th will be given a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 13th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 50.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total value of $1,710,964.04. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. The trade was a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Catherine Hogan sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.24, for a total transaction of $149,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 11,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,540,029.44. This represents a 5.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,518 shares of company stock valued at $2,124,932. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on ACN. Evercore set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Accenture and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $226.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $193.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $219.52.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc is a global professional services company that helps organizations transform their businesses through consulting, technology and managed services. Its work spans strategy and consulting, technology implementation, operations, and interactive customer experiences.

The company provides services in areas including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data and analytics, digital engineering, enterprise software, systems integration and business process outsourcing.