Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,333 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,833,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Dash Acquisitions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 43,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $15,838,000 after buying an additional 2,267 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its holdings in Accenture by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 275,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $97,409,000 after purchasing an additional 39,255 shares during the period. Eads & Heald Wealth Management acquired a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $449,000. Campbell Wealth Management raised its holdings in Accenture by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Campbell Wealth Management now owns 862 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Finally, Americana Partners LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 47.4% in the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 4,602 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,479 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Bank of America upped their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.23.

Insider Activity at Accenture

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

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $345.67 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $352.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $324.05. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $216.10 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

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

About Accenture

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.