Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co.

Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 54.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,643 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 580 shares during the period. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 16,556 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120 shares during the last quarter. Coerente Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $203,000. Freedom Day Solutions LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 0.9% in the third quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 9,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,383,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $845,000. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 1,076 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.14 on Friday, hitting $364.09. 177,971 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,712,977. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.17 billion, a PE ratio of 33.35, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $348.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $322.52.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 54.21%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total transaction of $1,899,689.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.