Values Added Financial LLC acquired a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN – Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 730 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Aries Wealth Management boosted its position in Accenture by 0.8% during the second quarter. Aries Wealth Management now owns 4,288 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,323,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 5,172 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,596,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank raised its position in Accenture by 0.7% in the first quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 4,999 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. jvl associates llc grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 3,682 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Accenture by 5.1% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 758 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. 70.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Accenture Stock Performance
ACN stock traded up $2.82 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $309.05. 809,467 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,304,321. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $242.80 and a fifty-two week high of $330.43. The stock has a market cap of $205.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.43, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $315.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $300.92.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 28th. The information technology services provider reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.06. Accenture had a return on equity of 29.74% and a net margin of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $15.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.12 EPS for the current year.
Accenture Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 12th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.60%.
Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 28th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
ACN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Accenture from $292.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Friday, June 9th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $312.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $340.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Accenture from $310.00 to $343.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.24.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Accenture
Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture
In other news, CEO Leonardo Framil sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $311.52, for a total transaction of $934,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,264,064.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Leonardo Framil sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $311.52, for a total value of $934,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 16,898 shares in the company, valued at $5,264,064.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $1,653,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 21,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,916,770. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,430 shares of company stock worth $7,735,251 in the last 90 days. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Accenture Company Profile
Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, interactive, 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 comprises 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 comprises turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.
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