Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,256 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,565 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Accenture were worth $26,954,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% in the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 12.7% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,891 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $656,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 3.9% during the first quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $407,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. LVW Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 10,150 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,490,266.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,971 shares of company stock valued at $9,330,113 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $360.80 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $350.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $322.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Accenture’s payout ratio is 54.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America increased their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.18.

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.