Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 608 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,385 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 608 shares during the quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in shares of Accenture by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after acquiring an additional 27,168 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its holdings in Accenture by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,393,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 13.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,516 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new position in Accenture in the first quarter valued at approximately $19,007,000. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 27.8% in the first quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 65,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $22,778,000 after acquiring an additional 14,283 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,964,751.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total transaction of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,550. 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler Companies restated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $371.18.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $360.74 on Friday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $339.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $320.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for 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%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 45.14%.

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.