Telos Capital Management Inc. Takes $2.61 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Telos Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 7,381 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,609,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $820,912,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after acquiring an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Accenture by 251.3% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after acquiring an additional 712,400 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Accenture by 196.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 988,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $342,483,000 after acquiring an additional 654,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,718,732 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,699,110,000 after acquiring an additional 635,349 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $376.03 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $346.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $321.91. The stock has a market cap of $235.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,548 shares of company stock worth $3,936,838. 0.07% of the stock is 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.