Zacks Investment Management Buys 16,946 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Zacks Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 17.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 115,010 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,946 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $40,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 78.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,047,000 after acquiring an additional 5,038 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth about $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 70.6% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,581,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724 shares during the period. M&G PLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $103,361,000 after buying an additional 74,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Accenture by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $52,247,000 after buying an additional 27,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE ACN opened at $362.66 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $359.88 and a 200-day moving average of $332.26. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $226.72 billion, a PE ratio of 31.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Guggenheim increased their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $372.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.