Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 1,101 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,392 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,101 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 108.0% in the 1st 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 period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $352.79 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a 50-day moving average of $355.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $327.83. The company has a market cap of $220.55 billion, a PE ratio of 30.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’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 12.77 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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 is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. 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 report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

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.