China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 131.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,251 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,277 shares during the quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $796,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 108.0% during the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 104 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 57.1% during the first quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 110 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,107 shares of company stock valued at $12,275,914. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $363.15 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $227.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $351.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $323.52.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast 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 repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $376.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

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.