Cynosure Group LLC Increases Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Cynosure Group LLC lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 18.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,504 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Austin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter worth $240,000. Raelipskie Partnership purchased a new position in Accenture during the first quarter valued at $951,000. PGGM Investments grew its stake in Accenture by 428.3% during the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 15,420 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,345,000 after acquiring an additional 12,501 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Accenture by 222.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 111,474 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $38,638,000 after acquiring an additional 76,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 52.2% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 35,908 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,446,000 after acquiring an additional 12,312 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,298 shares of company stock worth $13,372,661 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $362.23 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $226.45 billion, a PE ratio of 31.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $357.61 and its 200 day moving average is $330.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is 51.79%.

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.